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The much-awaited and talked-about power barge from Karpowership Ghana Company Limited, a subsidiary of Turkish Karadeniz Holding, started sail from Turkey to Ghana last Thursday.

According to government and Karpowership Ghana officials, the power barge from Turkey can be tracked from this link (http://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/details/ships/shipid:367565/mmsi:306587000/vessel:BLACK%20MARLIN)

A check by The Finder on the link as of the time of filing this report yesterday indicated that the said vessel is in an area called Aegean Sea on Saturday, November 8, 2015.

However, latest position was displayed as out of range, and The Finder could not get Karpowership Ghana officials to explain as phone calls to them were not answered.

On the information displayed on the tracking, the latitude was 35.93469° / 22.53973° longitude and the status was indicated as underway using engine.

According to the tracking site information, the Speed/Course was 12.4kn / 272°.

When the vessel finally docks in Ghana, another vessel is also expected to dock close to the power barge to supply it with fuel. 

This vessel will fuel the barge until such a time a fuel dump is constructed and connected to the barge.

Under normal circumstances, the journey from Turkey to Ghana should take at least 21 days (three weeks).

However, The Finder understands that considering the urgency of the situation, a fast boat, called a semi-submersible vessel, is pulling the barge for it to arrive in Ghana earlier.

Government has also instructed Karpowership to increase the capacity of the second barge from the initial 225 megawatts to 400 megawatts.

This means government has increased the power expected from the two barges by an additional 175 megawatts, from the initial 450 megawatts to 625 megawatts.

Officials told The Finder that when the barge arrives, it would take about two weeks to connect it to the national grid.

Ground works at the location where the power barge would dock in Tema has been completed awaiting the barge.

The second barge, which is to be upgraded to produce 400MW, is expected to be delivered by the end of the first quarter of 2016.

The power barges were originally scheduled to dock at Tema Port in the first quarter of this year.

It was rescheduled to September 2015, but government failed to meet the first two timelines for the arrival of the barges.

The first contractual 225 megawatts power ship was scheduled to be delivered in Ghana in September this year, and the second one was to be subjected to clarification but will be delivered at least 60 days earlier than contracted, Karpowership told journalists who went to Turkey to witness progress of work on the barges.