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A Ghanaian independent power producer (IPP), Amandi Energy, has successfully raised $522 million in equity and debt for the construction of a 200 MW power plant in Aboadze, Ghana. The plant is reputed to be the first project-financed Independent Power Plant in Ghana to achieve financial close since the Cenpower Kpone IPP in 2014.

The equity component of the capital announced last week by Amandi Energy is $134 million, raised from existing shareholders, including Denham Capital-backed Endeavor Energy and Harith General Partners-backed Aldwych International. (Endeavor Energy is the majority owner and lead sponsor of the Amandi project). The remaining $418 million comprised a debt financing package raised from a group of lenders, including the U.S. government’s Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), CDC Group, Nedbank and Rand Merchant Bank.

“We started this journey four years ago with a strong belief in the Ghanaian power sector and a commitment to contribute to its growth and success, and have been able to build a strong management team focused on delivering this complex transaction,” An Amandi Energy spokesperson said in a statement released last week. “We have excellent working relations with our partners Endeavor and Aldwych, which have allowed us to bring this project to financial close on a timely basis.”

The Amandi project is a combined cycle, dual-fuel power plant capable of producing over 1,600 gigawatt hours per year of electricity for up to one million Ghanaian households. The plant will initially be fuelled by light crude oil before switching to gas from Ghana’s offshore Sankofa natural gas field once the gas project has been completed. Electricity from the Amandi power plant will be sold to the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), the state-owned power distribution company, under a 25-year power purchase agreement.

“Ghana embarked on a mission to strengthen its power sector that has now created an opportune time for international investing,” said Sean Long, Endeavor Energy CEO. “We are very pleased to be working with Ghana’s government and the ECG, as well as the Amandi Founder Group and Aldwych, to realize this project.”

The Amandi project will be completed within 28 months and is scheduled to come online in April 2019. The plant’s construction is expected to create 400 jobs, most of which will be given by Ghanaians.

In October 2014, Cenpower Generation Company Limited closed the transaction for the development of the Kpone Independent Power Plant in the Tema industrial zone, near Accra. The required funding for the project, expected to come on stream in 2017, was $900 million. Post-financial close, the equity holders in Cenpower are AFC Equity Investments Limited (a subsidiary of the Africa Finance Corporation), Cenpower Holdings Limited, a consortium of Ghanaian investors, Sumitomo Corporation of Japan, Mercury Power and FMO.

“Additional power is critical to Ghana as it seeks to meet ever increasing demand and OPIC is proud that this project will help support that,” said Elizabeth L. Littlefield, the OPIC’s President and CEO. “OPIC’s financing and reinsurance will enable the construction of a combined cycle gas turbine power plant that, not only will meet the energy demands, but looks to further develop its economy by creating jobs for local Ghanaians.”