Turkish floating plant to produce elec. in Sierra Leone

By Ebru Sengul

ANKARA

Turkey's floating power plant Karadeniz Powership Dogan Bey will soon start electricity production in the West African nation of Sierra Leone, Karpowership, a member of the Istanbul-based Karadeniz Energy Group announced Tuesday.

Karpowership announced in December last year that the Karadeniz Powership Dogan Bey arrived in Sierra Leone, where it will start operating from its offshore location directly into the grid substation.

The plant which has 126 megawatts (MW) of installed capacity will meet 33 percent of the country's electricity needs for five years, under the Utility Grid Infrastructure and Electricity Supply Agreement with Sierra Leone’s Electricity Distribution and Supply Authority, the Ministry of Energy, and the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, the company noted.

The project is important for the stability of the country’s national grid as the country's energy demand grows daily, Sierra Leone's Minister of Energy Henry Olufumi Macauley, was quoted as saying.

Karpowership and "its ability to deploy fast-track utility-sized powerships on a turnkey basis undoubtedly addresses the short term and immediate requirements with economical and flexible solutions for countries with energy needs," Macauley said.

New agreement with Gambia

The company also announced that it signed an electricity sales agreement with Gambia's national water and electricity company NAWEC and the Gambian Energy Ministry, which will help meet 33 percent of Gambia's electricity needs for two years.

To this end, the Karadeniz Powership Koray Bey arrived in the capital of Gambia; Banjul in just three weeks to deploy 37 MW, the coordinator of the company Mehmet Katmer was quoted as saying.

"This powership will also be ready as soon as possible to meet the short or long-term electricity needs," he said.

Karpowership is the only owner, operator and builder of the first powership fleet in the world. Since 2010, 15 powerships have been completed with total installed capacity exceeding 2,800 MW.

An additional 5,000 MW of powerships are either under construction or in the pipeline.