Expect another 12 days of power cuts – from government to Ghanaians

General News on Tuesday, April 2, 2019

Source: 3news.com

2019-04-02

The government said it would take 12 days to put an end to the current power outages across the country.

Last week, Ghanaians experienced unexpected disruptions in the supply of electricity to their homes and offices, compounding fears of a return to electricity crisis, more commonly known as dumsor.

But the government said it had had to close the Tema enclave power plants since Saturday to allow some ongoing construction work to interconnect West African pipelines to Ghanaian pipelines.

The decision, said Monday, is to allow the transportation of excess natural gas from Takoradi, in the western region, to Tema, Greater Accra, to power the region's power plants to provide affordable electricity. to Ghanaians.

"Our hope was to minimize the disruptions in the energy supply of the good people of this country and we hoped you would not even know that this work was going on, but unfortunately we got to where we are. , "Assistant Energy Minister William Owuraku Aidoo, told reporters.

As a result of the current situation, the government has stated that it is implementing alternative measures to mitigate the level of disturbances within 12 days. To this end, it has obtained more than 11,000 metric tons of liquid fuel to power the plants located in the Tema enclave.

The current project, Aiddo said, would ensure the availability of enough natural gas to power the power plants, as well as ending the "Nigeria's Gas Steps" and "Low Pressure" ritual. .

"The idea is to have the ability to transport our stranded gas from the west [Takoradi] in the east [Tema] to feed our generators, "he said.

"Balderdash" argument

He noted that the completion of the project will offer Ghanaians a "huge advantage".

Mr. Aidoo said that it would therefore be a total "balderdash" for anyone to claim that the current disruptions are the result of poor management of the energy sector by the government and lack of funds to buy fuel to power the plants.

Meanwhile, he presented on behalf of the government apologies to Ghanaians for the disruption of power which, he admitted, affects business and social life.

"Sorry, it's a small price to pay"

"All I'm going to say now is, on behalf of the minister, of course the president, to apologize to you, Ghanaian people, for what is happening," he said.

The minister badured that the agencies involved in the project were doing their best to "restore electricity supply. It's a small price. I know that it disrupts many businesses and even the social life of Ghanaians. In my humble estimation, it's a price we pay for our best future.

Dr. Ben Asante, General Manager of Ghana Gas, pointed out that the amount of residual gas from his equipment exceeds the needs of power plants. That is why we intend to take any excess gas residing in the west via the interconnection to the east. where gas supply is anemic.

He said the construction began three weeks ago and resulted in a "partial shutdown" of the system, allowing a certain amount of gas to flow into the pipes.

However, Dr. Asante said that the construction work had reached a point that required a complete closure of the pipelines, which means "absolutely no gas flowing in both systems".

Dr. Asante said the project was not just about linking two pipelines, noting that "it went well beyond that. [The] The system will have to be depressurized. And you must also make them inert, that is, eliminate any flammable gas. "