Sunon Asogli suspends power shut-down decision

The Sunon Asogli Power (Ghana) Limited Company has suspended its intended indefinite shut-down of its 560-megawatt power plant over the government’s failure to pay for the power used.

Management of the plant had earlier announced the shut-down of the plant on Monday, December 4, 2023, as it could not operate effectively with the debt yet to be honoured by the Government of Ghana and the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).

However, in a statement to the ECG, signed by Qun Yang, the Chairman of Sunon Asogli, and available to the Ghana News Agency in Tema, it was indicated that it was suspending the planned shut-down due to an intervention and assurance by the Minister of Finance.

It indicated that “in view of the intervention and assurance from the Minister for Finance and Minister of State, we have resolved to suspend the plant shutdown for one week.”

Sunon Asogli, however, asked for confirmation on the terms of payment of the outstanding invoices.

“Kindly confirm our understanding that we shall be paid an interim sum of $60 million in two tranches. The first tranche is $30 million to be paid this week, and the second tranche is in the week of December 11, 2023,” it stated.

Sunon Asogli is jointly owned by Shenzhen Energy Group (60 percent) and the China Africa Development Fund (40 percent), and is the first independent power producer (IPP) in Ghana.

Source: GNA