Member of Parliament for Builsa South, Dr Clement Apaak, has called on the Ghana Grid Company Ltd (GRIDCO) to provide a load shedding timetable for Ghanaians.
According to him, it will be prudent for GRIDCo to issue out a proper timetable for Ghanaians to enable them make proper preparations for such occasion.
“What wishy-washy statement is this? Saying some parts of the country will be affected is not good enough? It will be better if GRIDCo gave us a DUMSOR time table. This will help both domestic and commercial consumers plan. This generic announcement is not enough!”
Dr Clement Apaak
The Ghana Grid Company Ltd (GRIDCO) revealed that a shortage of gas supply from the Atuabo Gas Processing Plant (GPP) and the West African Gas Pipeline (WAPCo) has created a supply gap of some megawatts of gas at peak time in the country which resulted in power outage in several areas.
Contained in a statement, GRIDCo assured that efforts are in place to restore gas supply from Atuabo. It explained that as the situation improves power will be restored to affected customers.
“The Ghana Grid Company Ltd, (GRIDCo), the “Operator” of the National Interconnected Transmission System informs the general public that there is a deficit in thermal power generation due to limited gas supply from the Atuabo Gas Processing Plant (GPP) and the West African Gas pipeline (WAPCo). This has created a supply gap of 650MW at peak time which will affect consumers in some parts of the country. The inconvenience caused is regretted.”
Ghana Grid Company Ltd
ECG apologizes to consumers experiencing power shortages
Prior to that, the power distributor, Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), also in a release apologized to consumers experiencing power cuts as a result of the situation.
It further explained that as a result of the gas situation at Atuabo and WAPCo, all Asogli phase-One units, Cenpower, and Aksa Power Plants have shutdown, leading to a generation shortfall. It expressed that the Ghana National Gas Company has assured that it will resolve the issue as soon as possible.
The outage comes on the back of threats by Independent Power Producers (IPPs) to discontinue its operations following the huge debt owed them by the government. However, the Chamber of Independent Power Producers Ghana (IPPs) suspended its planned shutdown of plants powering the national grid despite debts owed by government.
Meanwhile, Managing Director of ECG, Samuel Dubik Mahama, has revealed that the company is making headway with its arrangements to pay IPPs and hopes to finalize it soon.
“We have a few more things to do together as partners, so that certain documents will be signed, and some conclusions reached so that the necessary disbursements can be made by end of week for everything regarding cash can happen.”
Samuel Dubik Mahama
The IPPs which control about 50 percent of the country’s generation mix had highlighted that the debt has hindered their access to working capital, preventing them from financing crucial inputs such as chemicals for water treatment in thermal generators and other supplies, many of which are priced in foreign currency, primarily the US dollar.
However, the Chairman of the IPPs in a statement indicated that: “we are pleased to have reached an interim understanding with ECG, which enables us to continue our operations for the benefit of the good people of Ghana. We recognize the importance of our operations to the nation, and all the IPPs jointly remain committed to Ghana in delivering reliable power to the country. We also appreciate the support and collaboration we have received from the general public and all well-meaning Ghanaians throughout this process“.
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