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.
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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.
(
Anadolu
Agency)