No Load-Shedding In 2014 - VRA

Acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Volta River Authority (VRA), Mr Kirk Coffie has assured Ghanaians of constant and reliable supply of electricity without any load-shedding. "I can assure you that if all things work well; if the inflow into the lake [Volta lake] is good this year, Akosombo hydro is able to generate more than 50 percent of our requirement and then we have the capacity to add on the rest from Tema...'' ''I can assure Ghanaians that we are doing everything possible to make sure that we don't shed; our primary aim is to make sure that the lights are always on, we will do everything possible,'' he reiterated. Mr. Coffie, however, appealed to Ghanaians to conserve electricity in order to cut down on the unnecessary wastage. Media reports indicate there has been a deep drop in the flow of gas from the West Africa Gas Pipeline Company (WAPCo) could plunge the country the country into another power rationing period in 2014. But Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show, Mr. Coffie said ''We cannot 100 percent rely on gas supply from Nigeria''. According to him the VRA is currently looking at a gas supply from Ghana and other ''potential people who are prepared to come and supply us with other forms of gas''. ''... we have enough to produce whatever we want to do from Akosombo this year, we are also adding other megawatts of generation.'' Background The VRA prefers gas to crude oil for running thermal plants with a combined installed capacity of about 841.5 megawatts(MW), while the privately �owned Asogliplant which depends solely on gas from WAPCo requires about 30MMscf to power its 200 MW facility. In 2012, damage to the West African Gas Pipeline created power crises that lasted for about a year. The crisis contributed to a slowdown of GDP growth in 2013, estimated at 7.4 percent compared to 7.9 percent in 2012. Although gas supply was restored in August last year, the VRA still runs a very tight schedule without any reserve margin-meaning that the shutdown of any tribune could lead to a deficit in power supply. In spite of the challenges encountered in 2012 and 2013, the authority says it is working to prevent any possible load-shedding in 2014.