Government won't prescribe market design on energy sector

Tema, March 10, GNA - Dr Joe Oteng-Adjei, the Minister of Energy, has assured stakeholders in the energy sector that government would neither prescribe any particular market design nor impose a preferred structure for the sector.

Dr Oteng-Adjei said this in Tema when he visited the head office of the Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo) on Wednesday. He said stakeholders must ensure that whatever they came up with must reflect the changing sub-regional power environment that would facilitate the co-existence of both an organized wholesale market inside and outside Ghana.

The Minister's visit offered him the opportunity to interact with Management and Staff of the company on how "we can chart a direction for the future, given the challenges that the company and others on the power sector face."

The Minister said the government was aware of stresses on the national transmission grid as a result of aging infrastructure coupled with a rapidly growing demand for electrical power.

He said major outages might continue to be an increasing phenomenon if nothing was done quickly to increase investment in infrastructure in the power sector.

Dr Oteng-Adjei pledged government's support for GRIDCo to address its vulnerability if its target to increase access to electricity from the current 65 per cent to 85 per cent by the close of 2015 was to be achieved. He commended management of GRIDCo for initiating projects to renew the transmission system by replacing obsolete parts, rehabilitating some others and expanding the lines and substations to help strengthen and stabilize the network.

Mr Charles Darku, Chief Executive of GRIDCo, assured the Minister of the company's commitment to work hard to restore the power system to its pristine status of yester-years.

"We will, through hard work and determination, take the electricity sub-sector to new and greater heights," Mr Darku said. Accompanied by Mr Appiah Korang, Board Chairman of GRIDCo, Dr Oteng-Adjei toured the company's System Control Centre and the 330kV Substation being funded by the World Bank and other multilateral agencies. 10 March 10