Electricity supply in the Republic of Ghana has begun to improve after two days of emergency meetings between the Ministry of Energy and sector agencies resulting in some interventions being made to address the recent unannounced load-shedding.
The first intervention the meeting produced was the discussion that led to the West African Gas Pipeline Company (WAPCo) to resume gas flow to the power plants in the Tema power enclave on Wednesday.
The meeting also discussed steps to find lasting solutions to the financial challenges in the energy sector which is adversely affecting the performance of the sector.
The West African nation experienced pockets of unannounced power outages in the latter part of 2023 and continued to this year.
The power situation got worse on Tuesday when several parts of the country suffered power cuts at about 6:30 pm.
Many looked forward to seeing power restored later in the night but that did not happen.
In some areas, power was restored at about 6:30 am, the following day while other areas were still without power.
The power situation started improving on Wednesday night after WAPCo resumed gas flow to the power plants in the Tema power enclave.
Sources within WAPCo told this portal that the company agreed to resume gas flow purely for commercial reasons.
The source explained the Ministry of Energy and players in the power sector value chain have agreed to put in place a plan to ensure that invoices for gas supply are paid every month.
The source explained the Ministry of Energy and players in the power sector value chain had agreed to put in place a plan to ensure that invoices for gas supplied are paid every month.
Despite the resumption of gas flow by WAPCo, the West African nation still faces the challenge of getting adequate gas to generate power resulting in some power plants having to reduce generation.
Ghana takes over 40MMscf of gas from its neighbour, Nigeria, to add up to domestic gas production for power generation.
Interestingly, this portal understands that as of Friday morning there was about 78.68MMscfd of gas supplied from Lagos Beach Compression Station in Nigeria.
As of now, Cenit, Tapco, TE66(T3), Ameri power plant, etc. are all not generating power onto the grid, according to the data available.
Meanwhile, one of the six units of the Akosombo hydroelectric power dam is also offline.
In a Facebook post by the Minister for Energy, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, after meeting with heads of the energy sector agencies under the ministry sighted by energynewsafrica.com, he wrote: “Stakeholders of the power sector convened earlier today at the Ministry of Energy to discuss power supply issues.
“We remain committed to addressing all temporary issues to keep the lights on for the Ghanaian people,” he concluded.
This portal understands that the Minister briefed the Cabinet on Thursday about the current issues in the energy sector.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
