The Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo) has explained that ongoing power outages in parts of the country are caused by a gas shortage, impacting the ability to power thermal plants thereby affecting electricity transmission.
This follows the inconsistent power supply in several areas of the country, with some analysts and members of the public expressing concern that “dumsor” may be returning.
Dzifa Bampoh, GRIDCo’s Corporate Communications Manager, explained in an interview with an Accra based radio station that, the gas supply challenges stem from “commercial issues” involving agreements, payments, and negotiations with gas suppliers.
She added that this constraint has reduced generation capacity, preventing GRIDCo from transmitting enough power to the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).
“Currently GRIDCo as far as we are aware as a transmission entity, we are aware of some commercial challenges with supply in reference to gas. When we say commercial challenges, it means there are agreements, payment, and negotiations that need to be made with the gas suppliers”.
“So for us, we are unable to provide the full quantum of power supply that ECG would need to plan in the country just because there have been commercial issues related to the gas,” she added.
She emphasized that the outages are unrelated to the shutdown of Sunon Asogli Power Limited, which suspended operations due to ECG’s outstanding debt.
“Even if the Sunon Asogli plant were operational, gas supply shortages would still prevent it from functioning effectively. It doesn’t even have to do with the recent outages. The current outages we are experiencing including myself are really because we don’t have the full quantum of indigenous gas supply in Ghana to meet our demands” she added.
She assured that the situation would stabilize once the government addresses the commercial issues with gas suppliers, allowing for a return to consistent power generation and transmission.