Executive Officer at the Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo), Bernard Gyan, has apologized and explained that the power outages experienced in some parts of the country over the weekend 7th May, 2022, was not intentional.
According to Bernard Gyan, one of the components of GRIDCo’s transmission lines caught fire and failed, so when that incident happened, it left some generators in Aboadze, Tema and Elubo down which caused the large scale outages to customers around the country.
“It wasn’t intentional. We had technical challenges in our network and it started from our transmission lines from Aboadze to Winneba.”
Bernard Gyan
Bernard Gyan emphasized that not the entire country went off as earlier insinuated. He added that GRIDCo was able to supply about 1,500 Megawatts of load across Akosombo and Kpone-Tema plant.
“Fortunately, we were able to work around the clock and around 11:30 pm, the power was restored to everybody affected in this country. We want to apologize for the inconvenience, it wasn’t deliberate.”
Bernard Gyan
The Executive Officer indicated that GRIDCo has records of the areas which were affected by the power outages dotted across the country. “So, some parts of Greater Accra, Western and Central and the middle and Northern parts of the country went off.” Mr. Gyan noted that power has been restored to all the affected places across the country and not just some selected parts. According to him, areas which are still affected by these outages might be facing a local problem and will have to contact its local office for power to be restored.
The Executive Officer further clarified that it wasn’t only Bui and Kpone areas that faced the power outage; however, majority of the power plants in Ghana went off. “The lines went off and when the light went off, it did with other lines and the power generators also started dipping.”
GRIDCo to ensure provision of needed power
Bernard Gyan assured that GRIDCo will continue to work to ensure Ghanaians have the power needed to carry on with their various activities. “We are working with machines, so we want to be able to make sure that we are on top of all the issues and that is what we are focused on.“
“You know once in a while, some of these things will come in. They can develop a fault at a point but the way and rate at which we do the maintenance will also inform some of these outcomes. So, as much as possible, we try to be on top of our maintenance to make sure that our systems are running all the time.”
Bernard Gyan
Mr. Gyan posited that because of the works of GRIDCo, it will be noted that it’s been a very longtime since the nation experienced such power outages. “So, that tells you that we are on top of the issues around the clock. We are doing our maintenance very well to make sure that we don’t suffer such large scale outages.”
Bernard Gyan debunked claims that the outages experience was due to shortage of gas. “From where we sit, the issue is what we have released in the media.”
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