The Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo) has outlined plans to transform Ghana’s energy transmission system to ensure improved and reliable supply of power in the country.
This forms part of efforts by the energy transmitter to ensure a robust grid system in order to meet the increasing energy demands of businesses and households in particular in underserved areas of the country.
According to him, due to the high potential for demand growth, with peak demand at about 3,469 megawatts (MW), his outfit is undertaking the projects to meet the projected demands.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GRIDCo, Ing Ebenezer Kofi Essienyi, said at the Minister’s Press Briefing that GRIDCo has listed two main projects for commencement this year.
The projects, he said, are the Ghana-Germany Compact and the Western Corridor Transmission Lines Upgrade.
The Ghana-Germany Compact is an energy sector transformation arrangement stemming from Germany’s Compact with Africa programme, where the European nation has put in place a €1 billion fund to boost the private sector in compact countries, of which Ghana is one.
As a result, Siemens, a German power giant, and GRIDCo signed an agreement to improve Ghana’s electricity grid capacity and stability, and to ensure that the country is able to produce energy for local consumption and at the same time for export into neighbouring countries in West Africa, such as Burkina Faso, Togo and Benin.
Providing further details, Ing Essienyi said the compact includes the installation of a 50MVAr SVC Plus device at the 161kV Kumasi (Ahodwo) Substation, construction of a 330/161 kV Substation at Dunkwa II and the construction of a third Bulk Supply Point in Kumasi (K3BSP).
This, he said, would help improve power quality in selected parts of the country by providing dynamic voltage support and reduce overall transmission losses.
According to him, the Western Corridor Transmission Lines will also be upgraded.
The project, he added, is a critical asset needed to improve power supply at Aboadze, Prestea and its environs.
“This project seeks to upgrade the existing 161kV transmission lines from Aboadze through Takoradi, Tarkwa, Prestea, Bogosu, Dunkwa to Obuasi. GRIDCo has identified the need to upgrade the obsolete 161kV 170MVA transmission lines and replace them with higher capacity 2x488MVA tern conductors and expand the existing substations to accommodate the new circuits,” he disclosed.
He said the Western Corridor Transmission Lines when completed will contribute to reducing the frequency and duration of power outages suffered by communities and businesses notably at Aboadze and its surrounding communities.
It will also strengthen the south-western part of the grid improving power transferability from the south-eastern part to the middle and northern parts of the grid.
The completion of these projects is expected to eliminate congestion and increase transmission capacity, thus reducing user complaints of low voltage and power outage.
Ing Essienyi assured that once the old lines which were installed in the 1960s are replaced, rain-induced outages will also be a thing of the past.
He asked members of the public living close to or transacting business in close proximity to GRIDCo towers to move away from these installations.
He noted that the public put themselves in danger of electrocution or being crushed should any accidents occur by drawing so close to the towers.
To prevent this, he disclosed that GridCo has set up a task force – Right of Way – to eject any unauthorised persons from their illegal situation close to these installations, at all times of the day.
Speaking further on the new task force in an interview, Director of Technical Services at GRIDCo, Ing Daniel Amartey, said the deployment of the task force had already been piloted in Tema and Adentan to relative success.
He was, however, unable to tell when the full deployment would happen, or how much it would cost the state.
He said, “We currently have men on the ground in Tema and Adentan, but we will deploy more in future throughout the country, in all corridors.”
Source: Selorm GBORBIDZI || The Finder, Accra