The Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo) has assured the general public that there is enough power available for distribution by the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).
According to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GRIDCo, Mr William Amuna, while the generation peak presently stood at 1,956 megawatts (MW), the peak demand yesterday stood at 1870 MW.
Parts of Accra have been experiencing power outages over the last couple of days, raising concerns that the country might be returning to the era of load shedding, popularly known as ‘dumsor’, but Mr Amuna discounted the claims.
“Occasionally, we will have some challenges in the distribution networks, but that does not mean we don’t have enough power”, Mr Amuna told the Daily Graphic on the sidelines of the company’s 2016 Safety and Health Awareness Day celebrations in Tema yesterday.
Mr Amuna’s assertions thus reaffirm the position of the ECG that the current power crisis is not an indication of power crisis or the return of load shedding.
Plants available
While the Sunon Asogli Power Plant is presently out of production due to natural gas supply challenges, the Tema Three Power Plant, Kpong Hydro Plant, Takoradi International Company (TICO) are all in production, giving total megawatts of 1631.3 as of 12:14 p.m. yesterday, and indications are that production volumes would rise by close of day.
The Karpower ship and the Ameri Plants are also producing 224 and 210 megawatts respectively.
Importation
Mr Amuna described as normal Ghana’s importation of some quantities of power from neighbouring Cote d’Ivoire.
“Virtually every country in the world imports power even if there is available generation capacity. Moreover, it is imperative that we import in order to reduce pressure on the Akosombo Dam”, Mr Amuna stressed.
He gave the assurance that the company would continue to work hard to address the challenges within the company’s distribution networks.
Workers durbar
Earlier, addressing the workers, Mr Amuna charged them to adhere strictly to the health and safety regime to ensure high efficiency in the company’s operations.
“We work in a very challenging and dangerous environment and I will urge all staff to continue to do their best to eliminate incidents and accidents within the workplace.”
Mr Amuna said incidents and accidents at the workplace might bring injuries and fatalities which were most often stressful for the individuals involved as well as for their families and friends.
He therefore charged the staff, especially those in the technical units, to be very conversant with their safety procedures and practices to avert injuries and loss of lives.
<<Print>>