GRIDCo promises stable power supply

BARRING any unforeseen challenges, power supply will remain stable throughout January, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo), Mr Charles Darku, has stated.

According to him, the Tema Cenit Thermal Power Plant (TCTPP), which took off in October,2012  with an additional 100 megawatts of generation, had enabled GRIDCo to diversify its power supply source.

 In an interview with the Daily Graphic, Mr Darku said the Takoradi Thermal Three (T3) project belonging to the Volta River Authority (VRA) had also made available 80 megawatts of generation for supply, although the plant was yet to assume commercial operations.

“Challenges on power transmission lines have been addressed, while issues on crude oil procurement for the day-to-day running of the generation plants have also been stabilised,” he said.

He said the demand for power in January was expected to go up to about 1,730 megawatts, as against the current available stock of 1,710 megawatts.

He, however, gave an assurance that GRIDCo had put in place an emergency generation contingency plan to forestall a relapse in its generating systems.

Mr Darku further indicated that GRIDCo had made available reserves in the range of 1,600 to 1,700 megawatts on a day-day basis to cater for any shortfall in the system.

“We, therefore, anticipate reliability in power as soon as the T3 project also begins commercial operations, which will likely scale up the generation capacity in the coming months,” he said.

He also said work on GRIDCo’s Third Bulk Supply Point, which would also facilitate the evacuation of power from various plants onto the national grid, had been completed.

The $15-million project, Mr Darku said, would further ensure reliability in power supply and minimise outages in the distribution network.

He was hopeful that the company’s contingency plan that it had put in place, coupled with Cenit’s continuous operations, would mitigate the severe power crisis that hit the country in 2012.

SOURCE: Della Russel Ocloo, Daily Graphic, Sat Jan 5, 2013