GRIDCO blames Saturday's power outage on gas supply issues
- GRIDCO says the power outage of Saturday as due to gas supply issues
- The grid company says all the issues have been addressed and power restored
- Ghana’s AMERI has so far ended, posing threats of imminent erratic power supply
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The Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCO) says the occurrence of power outages in Accra, Tema and Kumasi on Saturday was due to challenges with the supply of gas to power plants.
In a press statement, GRIDCO assured the consuming public that the situation has been resolved. Already. Saturday's national blackout has resurrected debates over Ghana possible plunging into a new era of power disruptions.
This follows the expiration of a recent power deal under the Mahama administration. The outright cancellation of energy projects, has so far caused Ghana over 100 million dollars in judgement debt.
“...at approximately 18:55PM on Saturday February 27, 2021, gas supply challenges, emanating from the Offshore fields, led to loss of power supply totaling about 1,000MW. To prevent a total system shutdown, power curtailment was carried out, which affected major parts of the country including Accra, Tema and Kumasi. Gas supply has resumed upstream and power to the affected areas will be restored shortly,” the notice read.
Source: UGC
In other news
The BOOT (Build, Own, Operate and Transfer) agreement between the government of Ghana and AMERI on the 250MW thermal plant ends on January 31.
Per the agreement, the plant will be taken over by the government of Ghana via the Volta River Authority. As of Sept 2020, AMERI wrote to the government on the terms of the contract and its readiness to hand over the plant.
“I can confirm that government has not yet responded to the letter. Ghana's indebtedness to AMERI (over $32 million) has not been settled, no technical audit has been conducted and no staff of VRA has been trained to operate the thermal plant. In terms of the economics, it will be in our interest to own and operate the plant,” an economist, Eugene Bawell, revealed on his Facebook page.
One thing of much concern is that the same AMERI deal got Boakye Agyarko fired as the minister for energy.
Already, there is the possibility of Ghana experiencing some power outages this year. Independent Power Producers (IPPs) have all warned of ending their services if the government does not pay them for the debt owed by over 150 million dollars.
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Source: YEN.com.gh
