AN emergency power reserve has been proposed by three electricity providers to forestall the recurrence of nationwide blackout.
A technical report on the proposed power reserve has been submitted to the Ministry of Energy by the providers — the Volta River Authority (VRA), the Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo) and the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).
A senior official of the ministry who spoke to the Daily Graphic said the power reserve would be managed by the VRA and released to GRIDCo and ECG in the event of a shortfall in power supply for transmission and distribution.
Following the nationwide blackout on Wednesday, March 21, 2012, Dr Oteng-Adjei directed the three power providers to investigate the circumstances that led to a string of nationwide blackouts since January, this year.
They were also required to outline strategies to forestall future occurrences of nationwide blackouts.
According to the official, the report also recommended the speedy repair works on the components of the VRA plant at Aboadze that had not been functional, a situation which had created a deficit of 100 megawatts of power in the system.
The country has experienced three major blackouts since January this year.
The VRA recently announced publicly an end to the month-long load-shedding exercise which was prompted by the shortfall in gas supply but has again resorted to the exercise due to technical challenges.
The Public Relations Manager of the VRA, Ms Gertrude Koomson, reacting to the continued load-shedding exercise, however, told the Daily Graphic that the exercise was meant to ease pressure on VRA’s equipment.
“We expect the ongoing works at the Takoradi Thermal 3 project to be completed by June, this year to add 132 megawatts of power for supply,” Ms Koomson said.
“The completion of the Bui Dam will also enhance the country’s generation capacity,” she said.
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