In the midst of the recent intermittent power outages experienced in parts of the country, Minister for Energy, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh has pleaded with Ghanaians to bear with the managers of the country’s energy sector as they work to improve the power sector.
The Minister for Energy made this appeal when he addressed the media on the current developments in the country’s energy sector on Wednesay, April 13, 2022 at the Ministry of Information’s media briefing series.
According to Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, although he concedes that parts of the Central and Western Regions including parts of Accra are currently experiencing intermittent power outages, the challenge, he says, has nothing to do with the generation capacity as the country has enough installed capacity compared to the peak demand.
Explaining the cause of the recent outages, the minister noted that the challenge is a result of a combination of factors which include current ongoing works to upgrade and strengthen the country transmission network and the burnt Aboadze Switch Yard.
“As we try to tackle the other bottlenecks in the transmission network, we have not been particularly happy about the incidences around the same time. A couple of days of ago, we had our Aboadze Switch Yard burnt. It was burnt down and it has led to a lot of intermittent power curtailments in parts of Western Region, Central Region and even Accra. It has affected even parts of Accra because what GRIDCo is trying to do is to put the whole network in a circuit such that you can wheel energy wherever you are needed efficiently with automatic meters to ensure that even when they stay in their office, the power can be put on,” he explained.
He added that, “but that also meant that there will be increased trip offs if the unload is unfavorable to the system. So the system decides to shut itself down to prevent machines and equipment losses rather than put the lights on to cause those equipment too. For some of the lines that we are changing, they are so outdated that its causing increasing trips in parts of the country.”
Despite the challenges, the minister appealed for patience and assured Ghanaians that very soon the challenge will be dealt with as the power managers are working tirelessly to stabilize the power transmission network across the across the country.
“So its true that parts of the country are experiencing intermittent power outages because of combination of factors; the work we are doing and the power itself giving up. We are working hard to maintain those voltages. We will get on top of it. I hope that Ghanaians bear with us. We are not going to sleep. We are going to work around the clock so that we sort it out to keep the lights on,” Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh appealed to Ghanaians.