Minister for Energy, Hon. John-Peter Amewu has met with Members of Parliament to update them on the current power situation in the country.
Speaking on the Floor of Parliament on Friday, 15th March, 2019, Hon. John-Peter Amewu explained that the outages in some parts of the country were purely technical challenges and not as a result of power generation problems as some Ghanaians are speculating.
“The fundamental cause of the blackout is the ongoing construction of the road interchange at Pokuase which has necessitated the diversion of the 330kV transmission line towers that runs from Tema to Aboadze in that vicinity. This requires taking an outage of the entire line to undertake the diversion,” he said.
He added that as a result of the ongoing works on the 330kV line, GRIDCo has rendered the line inactive, thereby cutting power supply to those living in Pokuase and its environs including parts of Western Region.
“As a result of the outage on the 330kV line, no power was transmitted on the Aboadze to Accra that is, from west to east. Instead, power has had to be transmitted from Akosombo through Mallam, Winneba and Cape Coast to the Western part of the country through the 161kV transmission line. These 161kV lines become overloaded, thereby causing it to trip as a protective measure to avoid any major damage to equipment. It is important to note, however, that the transmission lines across the country are interconnected to the extent that disruption in one transmission line has a ripping effect on others,” he explained.
The Minister said power would be restored to the affected areas in the next couple of days explaining that work on the 330kV pylons had progressed.
“We are in constant touch with GRIDCo and the Contractors to expedite work and complete the relocation of the towers according to schedule to enable the restoration of the 330kV line. The relocation works have been scheduled for completion by Tuesday, March 19, 2019. Our engineers are engaging their Japanese counterparts to resolve the technical challenges at the new Accra Central substation. Efforts are being made to expedite the work to relocate the towers on the line as well as put in mitigation to minimize further disturbances in the short term till the work is completed by the weekend.’’
Hon. John-Peter Amewu reiterated that government is fully committed to ensuring that Ghana’s power system functions effectively.
“Mr. Speaker, in conclusion, let me state that the events that led to challenges that the power system of Ghana experienced are by no means the return of dumsor. We are working assiduously to address the situation. This government is committed to ensuring that the power system of Ghana functions effectively to make Ghanaians happy” he said.