$75m needed to stabilise Accra power - Agyarko

Energy Minister Boakye Agyarko has revealed an additional three power substations are required to be constructed in order to ensure uninterrupted power supply to the Greater Accra Region.

“To stabilse power in the Greater Accra Region, we need three more substations,” Mr Agyarko stated on the second day of the National Policy Summit in Accra on Tuesday, May 16.

He explained that a single substation costs US$25m, requiring a total of US$75m to ensure that residents and industries in the region do not suffer unnecessary power fluctuations.

On the other hand, the minister indicated that Kumasi needs two bulk power stations to keep power stabilised in the city and its environs.

He underscored the need to prevent power interruptions to ensure more reliable power supply for industrial and domestic use.

Meanwhile, the minister has indicated that transmission losses by the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) need to be curtailed in order to make the power distribution company efficient and profitable, Energy Minister Boakye Agyarko has said.

He has, therefore, charged ECG and all relevant stakeholders to institute the right measures to reverse the trend.

Mr Agyarko bemoaned the amount of power that goes to waste, indicating that “twenty-one per cent of power supply to ECG is lost” with “every percentage point of power lost equivalent to GHS60million”.

Even though he admitted that technical transmission losses were inevitable, he pointed out that a loss of 21 per cent of power to be sold to consumers makes the company unprofitable.

He was not enthused about the “significant” quantum of losses by other Independent Power Producers (IPPs) that load unto the national grid for clients.