“Those of us in the energy sector, especially power, know that President Mahama has been deceived to believe that the Karpower is the solution,” he stated.

 

Sharing his perspective on the arrival of the Karpowership and its benefits, Mr Yeboah, who is an engineer, said "If the total inefficiency of VRA, GRIDCo and ECG, which is about 40 per cent, does not improve, the consumer will have to pay in proportion to the incremented total capacity of the energy generation mix."

 

Karpower is bringing in additional 225MW to the current generation capacity of about 2800MW and so the incremented total generation capacity will be 3025MW.

 

But Mr Yeboah says “90MW of the Karpower will go to waste. At 2800MW capacity, 1120MW goes to waste and at incremented 3025MW capacity, 1210MW will go to waste. So anytime generation increases, consumers will have to pay a higher waste capacity cost.”

 

In the view of Mr Yeboah, who holds an Electric/Electronic Engineering Degree from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, the fanfare associated with the arrival of the Karpower should give way to the singing of dirges by consumers.

 

“If one argues that the government subsidises power, it is a great drain on the country - at this IMF-sanctioned economy,” he stated.

 

In Mr Yeboah’s view, if GRIDCo, VRA and ECG embarked on a programme to curtail at least 10 per cent of the power loss, about 280MW of the current capacity of 2800MW would be available to consumers.

 

He said the Karpower plant would be a great depressive drain on the economy, adding that “a higher power cost is a disincentive to Ghanaian industries' global competitiveness. Such industrial disadvantage will increase youth unemployment. Dumsor cannot also be solved by Karpower.”

 

The government, he said, must endeavour to employ energy conservation and efficient strategies that could bring higher cost benefits to consumers and power generation and distribution companies.

 

“Ghana will be better off economically and socially without the untimely and wasteful venture of Karpower plant,” he asserted.

 

Mr Yeboah is the Founder of Mpontuo Mining, a small-scale mining and consulting services for small scale miners, and the founder and West Africa Director of Vital Source Limited (VSL), a procurement and logistics company which focuses on the gold mining and Oil & Gas industries within West Africa.

 

VSL provides consulting services for engineering, oil contamination and filtration, logistic and supply chain management for companies focused on the mining and oil sectors in West Africa.