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General News of Friday, March 15, 2019
Source: Graphic.com.gh
2019-03-15
play the videoMinister of Energy, Mr. John Peter Amewu
Energy Minister John Peter Amewu said the technical problems that led to power outages in many parts of the country on Tuesday and Wednesday were resolved.
He said that the ministry and its agencies responsible for the production and distribution of electricity worked diligently to prevent the occurrence of such breakdowns.
Mr. Amenu said this after yesterday visiting electrical installations in the Greater Accra area to determine the cause of the blackouts.
The tour led to the substation of the Central Business District (CBD) in Accra, at the Pokuase Interchange, at the Asogli Power Station in Tema and at the Power Station of Kpong to Kpong.
He was accompanied by representatives from the Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo), the Volta River Authority (VRA) and Power Distribution Services (PDS) Ghana.
Many parts of the country, especially the south, were last Wednesday in the dark as a result of intermittent current fluctuations.
It was the second time in two days that the country was experiencing such a major power outage.
The affected areas included nearly half of the Greater Accra region and parts of the Ashanti, West, Volta, Oti, Northwest and East regions.
The situation led to the condemnation of the services of the PDS, the new entity that took over the activities of the Ghana Electricity Company (ECG).
Technical challenges
Mr. Amewu explained that the power outages were due to technical problems rather than to a low production capacity.
He further explained that these failures were the result of ongoing work on certain transmission lines at Pokuase, which had interrupted the flow of power to some substations in Accra, including the CBD substation in Adabraka.
He added that the shutdown had also affected Asogli and Kpong thermal power plants, which forced power producers to shut down power plants to prevent any damage.
Mr Amewu said that there is enough raw material for power plants to provide the energy needed in the country.
"We have approximately 26,000 megawatts (MW) of production, while our fast demand is around 25,000 MW. So, in terms of production, we should be able to respond to demand.
"We know what the power is doing to this country in terms of economic activities and, therefore, we will not relax our efforts to ensure that the transmission of power is sufficient for us to be not in the dark, "he told reporters. of the tour.
Briefing
By informing the journalists of the cause of the power outages, GRIDCo's Managing Director, Mr. Jonathan Amoako-Baah, explained that the CBD substation that was supplying electricity to parts of Accra, including Kaneshie, Osu, Ridge and Odorkor. , has been automatically shut down because the level of current expected to be transmitted to the station has exceeded its limit.
He further explained that due to the ongoing construction of the Pokuase interchange, it was necessary to reposition the transmission pylons, which resulted in the reorientation of the load of the pylons concerned to the sub-level. -post CBD.
He added that although the move went smoothly, it was overloading the CBD substation's intake capacity, causing it to shut down.
Mr. Amoako-Baah stated that GRIDCo had therefore asked the PDS to retransmit the excess load transported to the CBD substation to the Achimota substation in order to prevent the problem from recurring.
He badured that work on the Pokuase transmission towers would be completed next week, after which the flow of current in the affected transmission lines would return to normal.
Asogli
At the Asogli plant, Sunon Asogli Power (Ghana) Limited chairman Li Xiaohai told the minister that the power station's current frequency has increased from 50 hertz (Hz) to 55 Hz on Tuesday. and Wednesday night, a situation he described as abnormal, hence the closure of the plant.
At the time of the Minister's visit, the plant had resumed operations with a current production capacity of 269 MW.
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