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MINISTER for Energy, Dr. Joe Oteng-Adjei has said his ministry is working assiduously with Gridco to address the issue of erratic power supply in the country resulting from over-aged equipment, overloads and low voltages. He said government has embarked on some initiatives as a short term measure to ensure the problem is addressed. Some of these he said include replacement of the over-aged equipment and reinforcement of others. Speaking at a meet-the-press briefing in Accra Dr. Oteng-Adjei said government had increased electricity generation capacity from 1800MW in 2009 to 2185.5MW by the addition of 375.5MW in 2012. �Even with the increase of electricity generation capacity, a major challenge still confronts the power system relating to capacity within the system during peak periods,� he said. In order to address these challenges, Dr. Oteng-Adjei said 350MW is expected to be added on line in the next six months. In view of that he said VRA is expected to bring in 240MW and CENIT Energy, a subsidiary of SSNIT is expected to bring in another 110MW. Dr. Oteng-Adjei said �The Bui Hydro Power project is expected to be completed in the next 12 months providing 400MW to the system, supporting the system especially during peak periods.� He said TICo�s expansion project which is expected to add 110MW to the power system is currently being sent to parliament for approval for the project to commence later this year. Dr. Oteng-Adjei said in the next six months VRA is expected to start construction and installation of the 200MW Alstom units at Kpone. �This project will take about 18 months to complete and should be available in the second half of 2014,� he added. In all he said government expects to add 750MWof new generating power capacity in the next 12 months and an additional 200MW in the next 24 months to bring the total of new electricity generation capacity close to 1,060MW. Dr. Oteng-Adjei said government has also secured a billion dollar loan facility from the Chinese Development Bank to be used for the Gas Infrastructure Project (GIP). �The GIP when completed will process gas at first from the Jubilee Field and subsequently from other fields when they come on stream, for the powering of our thermal plants which constitute about 40% of our current energy mix.� Dr. Oteng-Adjei said �If it ever becomes necessary to ration power, industries will always be given the highest priority.� This he said means there would be minimal effect on industrial customers, adding that regular interactions would be held with the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) to address supply challenges of industrial customers. The minister apologized to Ghanaians for the nationwide power outages that occurred on three different occasions in the first quarter of this year. He explained that two of the outages were due to equipment failure and the last one due to the inability of their system to withstand a sudden and large disturbance from the Cote d�Ivoire system.