Executive Director of ACEP, Ben Boakye
Executive Director of the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), Ben Boakye, has advised against suggestions for the West African Gas Pipeline Company (WAPCO) to suspend its maintenance schedule.
He indicated that such an action could potentially amplify existing challenges and lead to the emergence of new issues.
“The scenarios I’ve reviewed so far are problematic, especially with the Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo), the system planner, leading the charge,” he said in a post on X.
He stated that suspending the maintenance could be costly, especially since PIGs have already been arranged and contractors mobilized.
Mr. Boakye also said, “The deficit can be managed by procuring additional Heavy Fuel Oil to run some units in Tema. However, this situation must be carefully managed, with a focus on system integrity and stability rather than Dumsor phobia.”
Additionally, he said limited load shedding would be acceptable, provided consumers were informed in advance.
He, however, stated that it’s important to note that procuring expensive fuel is a gift to the sector, as ECG will not be able to recover the costs.
“The scenario for CENPOWER lacks robustness. The plant primarily runs on gas, with about 3,000 barrels of fuel needed at peak demand until the 20th, when gas supply is curtailed. This means the plant could operate for almost 20 days on its current fuel stock during the shutdown period, so the fuel requirements for this period are overstated,” he explained.
Mr. Boakye further indicated that pricing supplies at $100, which represents a 25 percent premium on current oil prices, in any scenario is unrealistic. The government should scrutinize this closely.
GRIDCo, he said, has omitted TAPCO (330 MW) from its scenario. I initially thought this was an error in their report circulating in the media, but it was concerning to see the same omission repeated in their meeting with the Chief of Staff. This skews the 1,100 MW deficit.
The exercise raises several policy issues that need to be addressed, such as appropriate laboratories for product testing to cut the required 2-3 weeks to send products abroad, domestic gas production to strengthen energy security, and more,” he elaborated.
Given the scale of the challenges in the power sector, Mr. Boakye said planning should emphasize prudence and cost-saving measures.
“The sector has suffered from suboptimal decision-making, often framed in overly technical engineering terms, when the focus should be on sound managerial strategies,” he said.
Mr. Boakye’s reaction followed a report by GRIDCo that Ghana’s power grid is on the brink of a major crisis as the government urgently requires nearly $90 million to secure fuel for thermal power plants.
The report warned of potential power outages, popularly known as “dumsor,” if immediate action is not taken.
GRIDCo’s report highlights that the funds are needed to purchase liquid fuel, such as light crude oil, to keep thermal plants in Tema operational and meet rising electricity demand.
The shortage stems from a generation capacity deficit following a pigging exercise by WAPCO.
This maintenance activity temporarily disrupted natural gas supplies, leaving thermal plants without sufficient fuel.
To address the imminent crisis, GRIDCo has outlined several measures to stabilize the grid, including rescheduling maintenance: Revising planned shutdowns of generators in order to avoid overlapping with the WAPCO maintenance period.
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