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The Hague-based FMO own stakes, began Tony Carr, Starsight CEO, commented, Østerild National test centre for large wind
commercial generation in June 2019 under “Starsight’s expansion into Ghana represents turbines in Western Jutland, Denmark. It
a 20-year agreement with the government to a major step forward in its vision to generate will be installed next to the V150-5.6 MW
supply 325 megawatts of power -- about 12% clean energy for Africa’s future. prototype that is already upgraded to 6.0MW.
of peak demand in the West African nation. “Our operations in Ghana will be guided Following final installation of the V162-6.0
Cenpower will in future use gas supplied by the same values that made us the market MW turbine in mid-October, the prototype
by Ghana National Petroleum Corp., the leader in Nigeria: integrity, unrivalled will undergo an extensive test and verification
ministry said. performance, and a commitment to long-term programme to ensure reliability before serial
Last month, Accra-based Cenit Energy Ltd. partnerships with our clients.” production commences in the second quarter
became the first company to agree with the STARSIGHT of 2021.
government to amended terms. Under a new “With this upgrade, we once again optimise
accord, Cenit will convert its power plant into our technology offering and reduce of the cost
a tolling structure, which will help save the WIND of energy with our relentless commitment
state $200 million over 17 years. to innovation and product development.
The negotiations have yet to result in a Vestas upgrades EnVentus It marks an important step forward in
company agreeing to change their take-or- our journey to realise the potential of our
pay terms, which compel the government turbines to 6MW standard modular EnVentus platform architecture and
to pay for energy regardless of whether it it is a great achievement by the many Vestas
consumes it or not, to take-and-pay, in which and installs V162-6.0 MW employees involved”, says Anders Nielsen,
it would only pay for what it demands. Those Vestas Chief Technology Officer.
obligations currently cost Ghana $500 million prototype With tip height up to 250m and a swept
a year for power it doesn’t use. area of more than 20,000m2, the V162-6.0
Demonstrating its continued focus on MW applies the largest rotor size in the Vestas
innovation and product development, Vestas portfolio to maximise energy production at
West African commercial has upgraded the EnVentus platform’s existing low to medium wind sites.
Introduced in 2019, the Enventus platform
turbine variants to 6.0 MW standard rating.
and industrial (C&I) solar The upgrade to 6.0 MW delivers an increase is the next generation of Vestas technology,
building on and leveraging proven technology
in energy production of more than three
provider Starsight is to percent compared to 5.6 MW depending from the 2 MW, 4 MW and 9 MW platforms
to meet customisation needs more efficiently
on site-specific conditions, while siteability
expand into Ghana. parameters are maintained. The upgrade is through advanced modularity. Since the
enabled by advancements in load assessment
launch of the EnVentus platform, Vestas has
Starsight said that its Accra team will build and hardware upgrades specific to generator, secured orders for more than 1 GW across
on the Company’s extensive track record gearbox and cooling system. four different markets.
to provide Ghanaian businesses with At the same time, Vestas is installing VESTAS WIND SYSTEMS
professional, comprehensive, energy-as-a- the V162-6.0 MW prototype turbine at the
service expertise.
Starsight’s solutions optimise power
consumption enabling a customer to
significantly reduce costs and boost
profitability without incurring any upfront
expense. This frees up capex for our
customer’s core business.
Emmanuel Ayifa Baah, a highly seasoned
renewable energy executive, is leading
Starsight’s business expansion in Ghana.
“The Ghanaian market represents an
incredible opportunity for an energy-as-a-
service giant like Starsight.
“We look forward to delivering the best
service in clean and reliable power to the
country’s growing industrial, financial,
consumer, and residential sectors.”
Starsight has developed leading technology
and a deep in-house capability for designing
C&I solutions, having completed over 400
sites in Nigeria since 2015.
The Company currently has 34 MW of
installed generating capacity and 25 MWh
of storage and is backed by leading African
Private Equity firms Helios Investment
Partners and Africa Infrastructure Investment
Managers.

Week 40 08•October•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P13