Togo: Half of ContourGlobal's Lomé-based thermal power plant generators now operate with gas

Energy

Monday, 08 October 2018 17:57

Togo: Half of ContourGlobal's Lomé-based thermal power plant generators now operate with gas

(Togo First) - Togo’s national power utility company (Compagnie Energie Electrique du Togo-CEET) just announced that ContourGlobal, the thermal power plant installed in Lomé, is now using 50% gas in its operations.

According to the CEET, a supply contract was signed June 8 with Axxela Ltd, specialized in natural gas distribution and formerly known as Oando Gas and Power Ltd.

Based on that agreement, the Lagos based company has been supplying natural gas to the 100MW plant since July 1, 2018. The gas is transported via the pipeline of the West African Gas Pipeline Company Ltd (WAPCo) to the generators of ContourGlobal.

This month, three of the six generators of this plant are already being operated thanks to gas, CEET indicates estimating that the remaining generators should start using gas by November 2018.

With this shift to natural gas which, according to CEET, "optimizes its energy mix", the utility company has taken a crucial step to reduce its relatively high exploitation cost due to the use of heavy fuel to power ContourGlobal’s generators.

"This shift to gas optimizes the energy mix of CEET and progressively reverses from emergency to rolling mode, with a drastic reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and a decrease of the country’s dependence on energy imports”, the utility company explains. It should ensure energy security at a cost compatible with households’ revenues in Togo.

Let’s note that to meet the increasing energy demand, Togo plans to install a second thermal power plant, whose generators will be powered by natural liquefied gas from Equatorial Guinea, in the port zone. Last April, a memorandum of understanding was signed by Togo and the central African country. According to information received by Togo First, the two countries are working to concretize this partnership that should transform Lomé into an energy hub for natural liquefied gas supply to landlocked countries, Mali and Niger particularly.

Fiacre E. Kakpo

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