The government of Ghana has just completed a mini hydropower plant that will soon start supplying electricity in Hohoe District, Volta Region.
The power plant was constructed by the Bui Power Authority (BPA), a public body created by the Ghanaian government to develop, deploy and sustainably use the resources of the Black Volta and other renewable energy sources found around the region.
The mini-hydro plant which is located at Tsatsadu Falls in Hohoe District, Volta Region, is a run-of-river power plant that does not operate with a dam. The facility consists of a spillway that diverts part of the flow from the Tsatsadu River. A water intake installed in the weir leads the water to a diversion channel.
The BPA estimates that the plant’s capacity can be expanded with a new 40 or 60 kW turbine. The project was launched in 2005 with the signing of an agreement between the Ghanaian Ministry of Energy, United Nations Development Programme and the International Network of Small Hydropower Plants of China (IN-SHP) for feasibility studies.
The project required a total investment of USD 4,00,000, received much of its funding from the BPA, which also received USD 80,000 from the RETT Renewable Energy Technology Transfer.