The 13-MW Kaleo solar farm in the Upper West Region, northern Ghana, was recently commissioned. The facility was opened by Ghanaian electric utility VRA. The nation’s president Nana Akufo-Addo, graced the commissioning ceremony.
The Kaleo plant cost around US$ 12.3M to implement. VRA provided counterpart finance of EUR 8.12 million while German development bank KfW extended a loan of about EUR 22.8. According to the utility, this financing supported both Kaleo and its earlier solar project Lawra.
The project’s contractor was the Spanish infrastructure firm Elecnor SA, while the consultant was Tractebel Engineering GmbH from Germany.
Kaleo Solar Farm to help disperse locations of electricity generation assets in the country
Ghana reportedly started commercial production of electricity in 1961. Since then, practically all the generation assets have been located in the central and southern parts of the country. This is with the exception of the Bui Hydropower plant.
One of the noteworthy benefits of the Kaleo solar farm is how it would disperse the locations of electricity generation assets. Similarly, it will strengthen the nation’s power system’s resilience, stabilize voltage levels and reduce carbon emissions.
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VRA’s first solar project was the 2.5-MW plant in the town of Navrongo in the Upper East Region. In addition, it was followed by the 6.5-MW Lawra and now Kaleo in the Upper West Region.
The president announced the start-up of a new 15 MW solar plant, which is also supported by KfW financing.
