The Aggreko Shanduka cross-border power project, located at Ressano Garcia in Mozambique, has been awarded Africa’s Best Fast Track Power Project in 2012 at the Africa Energy Awards.

Commissioned in July 2012, the Ressano Garcia project is recognised as the world’s first interim cross-border IPP (independent power producer) project. Utilising natural gas from Mozambique’s Temane gas fields, the output of the plant is being injected directly into the national grid of Mozambique on-site via a purpose built substation. The project saw the generation and supply of110 MW of power to Electricidade de Moçambique (EDM), the national utility of Mozambique, and cross-border to Eskom, the South African national utility.

While being a highly innovative project in terms of delivering much needed power to both countries, the judges where impressed by the truly fast-track nature of the project. Commissioning the project, from first breaking ground to being fully operational, took less than four months. This included a substantial civil infrastructure programme involving the building of access roads, a 1.2 km high pressure gas pipeline, gas processing and de-pressurising infrastructure, a major substation and 1.5 km of 275 kV transmission line.

The project is connected to the Southern African Power Pool, which links the power grids of nine Southern African countries. Taking advantage of this exceptional transmission infrastructure and the flexible nature of Aggreko’s power installations, Aggreko announced on 14 March that it would extend the Ressano Garcia facility to add an additional 122 MW. Coming on-line within the second quarter of 2013, this additional power will be shared between EDM and NamPower, the Namibian national utility, and bring the total generating capacity of Ressano Garcia to 232 MW.

“To realise a project of this scale and complexity, the global resources of Aggreko were mobilised to project manage and engineer the installation of Ressano Garcia. This capability, coupled with the expertise of our partnering contractors and customers working together as one team, resulted in the successful delivery of this remarkable project,” comments Ron Sams, global operations and technology director at Aggreko.

“We are thrilled to receive this award in conjunction with our partner Aggreko,” comments Phuti Mahanyele, CEO of the Shanduka Group. “Access to sufficient and stable power supplies creates tremendous value for the development of the region. This project has also brought significant benefits to the local population, providing increased employment opportunities, stimulating wider economic activity and, through Shanduka’s Adopt-a-School Foundation, assisting in the development of a local primary school, Escola Primaria Completa De Ressano Garcia.”

James Shepherd, managing director of Aggreko Southern and East Africa, commented on the award: “I am delighted that what is indeed a unique and ground-breaking project has been recognised as such by our industry peers. Building a power plant of such size and complexity, on a completely greenfield site, in less than four months is truly remarkable. This award recognises the vision and hard work of the project team from Aggreko and Shanduka, our customers EDM and Eskom, and all the partners that made this project such a resounding success.”