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Energy Minister John Peter Amewu has dispelled fears of Ghanaians to see the recent intermittent power outages in the country will not last very long.
Speaking to MPs yesterday in parliament in Accra, Mr Amenu said major disruptions of the system on March 12 and 13 this year had automatically resulted in a disruption in the power supply of the country's customers.
He added that the disruption was due to the difficulties encountered at the recently commissioned Accra Central workstation.
The minister also said that such problems could be attributed to a request by the Ghana Highways Authority to relocate two towers on the cable between Tema and Aboadze to allow this authority to build the new interchange at Pokuase.
"The root cause of these failures is the ongoing construction of the Pokuase Interchange, which necessitated the diversion of the GRIDCo 330 kV transmission line connecting Tema to Aboadze in the surrounding area", a- he declared.
He badured the House that the removal of the towers would be completed by Tuesday, March 19. 2019.
"We are in constant contact with GRIDCo and the subcontractors to speed up the work and complete the removal of the towers on schedule to allow the restoration of the 330 kV line," said the minister.
He also revealed that engineers had hired their Japanese counterparts to solve the technical problems of the new substation in Central Accra.
"Mr. Speaker, to familiarize myself with the situation as Sector Minister, I visited my technical team at the various sites, including some of the power stations that were set up in Tema on Thursday, March 14th. 2019. The plants that started were in operation at the time of our visit. "
The minister said that for the electricity system to work effectively, all components of the value chain, namely production, transmission and distribution, must be in good condition and that if one of the three components were faced with challenges, temporary power outages would occur.
The minister also told Parliament that because of the numerous power purchase agreements reached by the previous administration, the country had overcapacity payments averaging $ 25 million. dollars per month.
To minimize the effects of such huge payments, he said the current government was negotiating with the PPAs to reduce costs to the minimum minimum in the meantime.
"Mr. President, allow me to say that the events that have led to the challenges facing Ghana's energy system are in no way the return of" Dumsor ", he said.
At the same time, Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo) has ordered Power Distribution Services (PDS) to redistribute loads to various bulk supply points to ensure system reliability.
GRIDCo, in a statement signed by the public relations officer, said "this could result in blackouts for some electricity consumers".
Ghanaians have already used social media to express their frustration at recent power outages.
"Due to the construction of the highway interchange at the ACP junction, Pokuase, the Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo) has decommissioned the 330KV Aboadze-Tema transmission line crossing the road to allow the truck to pbad. contractor to divert the power line.
"GRIDCo sincerely apologizes for the inconvenience these arrangements may cause to the public. GRIDCo badures the general public that it is committed to ensuring that normal service is restored, "the statement said.
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