�I Have Sleepless Nights Over �Dum Sor�� - GRIDCo Boss

In recent times, when the country has been striving to resolve its power crisis, many would be wondering how heads of Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo), Volta River Authority (VRA) and Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) are faring, and exactly what they are doing to curb the situation. Some Ghanaians have accused VRA and GRIDCo of succumbing to manipulations by government to sabotage the services of ECG to make it appear inefficient to their customers, and subsequently have a justification to sell off ECG to a foreign investor! Apart from the accusations leveled on government, GRIDCo and VRA, some workers of ECG have also suffered severe beatings from residents of some parts of Accra and beyond over the crisis, as if that would curtail the problem. In an exclusive interview with the New Crusading Guide, Ing William Amuna, Chief Executive of GRIDCo noted that, even though pragmatic steps are being taken by the Government and the utility companies to address the situation, the power crisis gives him sleepless nights. He added that, in the past 15 years, Ghana has added over 1,000 megawatts (MW) of thermal generation capacity to the system. Ghana�s current total installed generation capacity is therefore, 2,917 MW, which comprises 54% hydro and 46% thermal power. Comparing the total installed generation capacity to the projected peak demand of 2050 MW, Ing. Amuna, explained that the power crisis should not have even occurred. However, low supply of natural gas from Nigeria, coupled with low rainfall in 2013, which reduced inflow to the Akosombo Dam, have affected available generation, hence low supply of power to consumers. Another contributory factor to the crisis is the inevitable retrofitting of the 30 year old (4) units of the Kpong Generating Station. Currently, one unit (40MW) is out for retrofitting, and would be completed in May, 2015, after which the others will be retrofitted in turns. All these have currently reduced the current available power supply to 1696MW. Importantly, he mentioned that one of GRIDCo�s key function is to match power generation with demand; ensuring that power generated is enough to meet power demanded. �Whenever power generated is less than power demanded, there has to be load shedding. Failure to observe this principle could lead to a total system collapse, which comes with dire financial and social costs,� he added. Nevertheless, Ing. William Amuna is optimistic that the expansion and revamping of plants such as, Kpone Thermal Power Plant, Aboadze Thermal Plant (T3), and Sunon Asogli Phase II, would resolve the situation in the short term, while the Government collaborates with the various utility companies for long term solutions. On power evacuation, the Chief Executive mentioned that the existing transmission network has enough capacity to evacuate all available generation. He also added that GRIDCo was developing other transmission network and evacuation facilities to ensure that all future generation plans could be evacuated to load centers. Ing. William Amuna further pleaded with the populace to bear with the power producers whilst lasting solutions were sought. He hammered on the need for all to practice energy conservation with or without power crisis.