Power Outages resolved – Deputy Energy Minister

The Deputy Minister of Energy in charge of Power, Mr William Owuraku Aidoo has explained that the recent power outages experienced in some parts of the country was as a result of some technical challenges.
According to him, there was a problem with the supply of gas from the Sankofa field and around the same time, gas from Nigeria was also cut as a result of scheduled cleaning of the pipeline.

In a radio interview with Accra-based Citi FM on Monday in a reaction to fears that the power crisis – ‘dumsor’ – which challenged the country between 2014 and 2016 had resurfaced, Mr Aidoo assured that the problems had been solved.

“We had two major challenges happening at the same time which culminated into this rather unfortunate power outage that we’ve been suffering. But I’m happy to announce that the problems have been solved and going forward we shouldn’t be having power outages.”

“We had a problem with the supply of gas as a result of some challenges with a machine at the Sankofa field and around about the same time, the Nigerians were also doing some pigging, which in English means cleaning of the pipeline which is a normal scheduled maintenance

“But unfortunately, when they tried to hook us onto the supply again, they experienced a major fault which resulted in the inability of the company to supply gas to the Tema enclave,” he said.

Explaining further, Mr Aidoo said the Kar Power Plant was also faced with some technical challenges which have been resolved.

“I mean, all these came in at the same time which is very unusual. But now Kar Power has about 230 megawatts and they are still hoping to go up to the maximum of about 450 megawatts.”

He, however, dismissed claims that the Asagoli Power Plant had reduced production due to government’s indebtedness.

“That is false because Asogli went down simply because the Nigeria gas is what they use and without that gas they cannot produce. We’ve paid Asogli recently and we are really on top of the financials.”

Mr Aidoo also assured the public that “everything really is now working fine. What has happened in the last few days is not financial. It’s purely technical and that we have solved”

He stated, however, that “there may well be some localized problems here and there which are distribution problems that I will entreat people to have patience while the ECG goes round to solve those localized problems.”

GRIDCo

Meanwhile, Della Russel Ocloo reports that the recent power outages being experienced by consumers would soon be a thing of the past, according to sources at the Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo).

According to the source, the company was shedding between 20 megawatts to about 150 intermittently at four hours each day owing to inadequate generation.

“Presently, we have some 2600 megawatts available and therefore do not expect to shed load since the country’s maximum requirement stands at 2300”, a management source told Graphic Online.

While consumer complaints have been rife with many arguing of being plunged into darkness for 12 to 24 hours, the official indicated that they were only doing four-hours of outages.

“If any community experienced an outage for more than four hours or more, it means, there could be localised faults along the distribution lines which ought to be reported to the Electricity Company of Ghana for investigations”, the source suggested.

Asked, whether there would be the need for the ECG to come out with a timetable to guide consumers on the outages, the source stated that while it wouldn’t be necessary for a timetable to be out-doored, the power companies would be holding a meeting with the Minister of Energy at 2 pm today after which a communique would be issued to the public on the way forward.

Source: Graphic