From Bloomberg

Volta River Authority, Ghana’s largest power producer, plans to sell $500 million of debt abroad to fund a 10-year plan that will almost double electricity generation in West Africa’s second-largest economy.

The state-owned company will add 2,500 megawatts to Ghana’s power grid as part of a $4.5 billion expansion program,Ebenezer Tagoe, the director of finance, said in an interview in the capital, Accra, on Oct. 16. The Accra-based company has a capacity of 2,104 megawatts, or 79 percent of the nation’s installed power and operates Akosombo Dam, also known as Volta Dam. Sunon Asogli Power Ghana Co. Ltd, Cenit and Bui Hep produce the rest.

“We have over 16 projects to develop across the country made up of expansion and building of new thermal plants, solar panels and renewable energy facilities,” he said. The “financing strategy includes $500 million in foreign bonds.”

Electricity shortages are hampering Ghana’s economic growth, which has already been limited by a drop in the price of gold, the largest source of foreign revenue. The government is turning to foreign markets to borrow money at lower costs for infrastructure projects. Ghana, which imports a majority of the motor fuel it needs, wants to double crude oil output by 2021.

The nation’s credit rating was cut yesterday by Fitch Rating to B, five levels below investment grade. Ghana spends about 70 percent of tax revenue to pay government workers, sapping money needed for infrastructure investment.

Ghana gets about half of its electricity from thermal energy and uses oil products to fuel the plants because of an ANNUAL? natural gas shortfall of about 230 million cubic feet, Kofi Ellis, director of business planning, said in a separate interview on Oct. 16. Electricity demand is growing at an average 10 percent annually, Ellis said. Read more at Bloomberg.