Power Outages not National, says NAPO

The Minister for Energy, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, has assured the nation that the current power outages in the country are not national in outlook but rather confined to specific areas where work needs to be done on the transmission systems.

Dr. Prempeh who is popularly known as ‘NAPO’, and who is also the Member of Parliament for Manhyia South, gave this assurance at a press briefing held by the Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo) in Accra to address the current power situation in the country. The situation, he indicated, was simply due to a technical difficulty with transmission, and that there is absolutely no difficulty with power generation.

According to GRIDCo, its current key projects are confined to enhancing power supply reliability in Accra and Kumasi and emphasized that fact that no nationwide interruptions were being planned.

The projects in Accra are:
– Millennium Development Authority (MIDA) funded Pokuase substation and Kasoa Bulk Supply Point installation
– French Development Agency (AFD) funded Tema-Accra transmission line reinforcement project and the 330kV Kumasi – Kintampo transmission line.

With regard to the situation in Kumasi and the northern parts of Ghana, GRIDCo explained that this stems from the inability to dispatch the Bui Hydro Electric Plant (HEP) due to the low water levels. The implication is that all the electricity required in that area have to be supplied from the southern part of Ghana. A short-term solution has been implemented (transporting a 66MVA transformer from Accra to Kumasi). The medium-term solution is the construction of a 330kV transmission line between Anwomanso and Kintampo – earmarked to be completed in July 2021.