The Electricity Company of Ghana says power outages in some parts of the Ashanti region may continue until December
According to the Managing Director for the ECG, Kwame Agyemang Budu, the situation is a result of some construction works on the transmission lines in the region.
Some of the affected areas are KMA, Asokwa, Oforikom, Ejisu, and other MMDAs close to Kumasi.
From Kintampo to Tamale and Tamale to Bolgatanga, those two areas have been completed. They are yet to complete the last phase which is from Kumasi to Kintampo and by the end of the year, we should have a full 330KV transmission line from Kumasi all the way to the North
All our power generators are all the way in the south and power going to the north goes through Kumasi so by the time the power gets here (Kumasi) losses are incurred, voltages are reduced so they want to establish a plant here so that power going to the north will not be a problem and it will not affect the Ashanti region as a whole.
He said
Meanwhile, according to the Managing Director, the challenges confronting the country’s power supply are from system challenges and not the generation of power.
The problem here in the Ashanti region is system challenges whereby the 161kV transmission line is overloaded. That is why we are having all these problems. We do not have a timetable for these power outages. This is because we have not gotten to that level.
GRIDCo supplies us with power and they have not stated that there is no power. There is power but their line is just congested and all they need to do is to upgrade it
He said
In the meantime, he stated that the government has put in place some short-term measures.
We are also strengthening the existing networks to help evacuate more power. Our short-term measures are within a three to six months time frame. We are replacing our multi-jointed cable from Anyomaso to Boadi and from Boadi to Kassi
The situation, he indicated, was simply due to a technical difficulty with the transmission.
The projects are:
• Millennium Development Authority (MIDA) funded Pokuase substation and Kasoa Bulk Supply Point installation
• French Development Agency (AFD) funded the Tema-Accra transmission line reinforcement project and the 330kV Kumasi – Kintampo transmission line.
With regard to the situation in Kumasi and the northern parts of Ghana, GRIDCo explained that this stems from the inability to dispatch the Bui Hydro Electric Plant (HEP) due to the low water levels.
The implication is that all the electricity required in that area has to be supplied from the southern part of Ghana.