VRA: No Fears Of Electricity Crisis

The Volta River Authority has dismissed speculations of power crisis in the country, saying the current water level of the Akosombo dam is far above its minimum operational level.

Speaking to the Times in Accra on Monday, the head of Public Relations Unit of the Company, Mrs Gertrude Koomson, the water level of the dam was 266.59 feet which was far above the minimum operational level of 240 feet.

�This means that there is a difference of 26.57 feet of water the dam is operating on therefore, the public must not entertain any fear,� she said. She said compared to the same period last year (January 25, 2009), the dam operated at a capacity of 262.12 feet, pointing out that there had rather been an increase in the water level this year by 4.45 feet.

She said the company was in a good shape to produce adequate supply to feed the nation and assured the public of constant power supply, emphasising that no power crisis would be experienced. The last power crisis was experienced was in 2007, which she attributed to poor rainfall patterns experienced sometime in 2006 which gradually entered 2007. �We are not anticipating any drop or deficit of hydro power generation for this year�, she assured.

�Thank God, the rains have not yet even started. If the rains begin, especially at the catchment areas, that is in the northern sector, more water will be collected at the reservoir to feed the dam.� She said apart from the Akosombo dam which generated 1,020 megawatts of power, the Kpong dam, located at the downstream of Akosombo also produced a total 160 megawatts of power to augment that of Akosombo.

Besides the hydro dams, Mrs. Koomson said were other power generating plants at Tema and Aboadze to beef up operations, she said the recent outages were not signs of power crisis from Akosombo as being speculated contending it was the delay in the arrival of crude oil to power the Tema Plant.

Source: The Ghanaian Times/Ghana