‘Achimota substation renovations will not affect power supply’

Mr William Amanu, Chief Executive Officer of Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo) has assured the public that the ongoing renovations at the Achimota Sub-Station would not worsen the current erratic power supply.

He said plans have been made to curtail any unforeseen situation that might arise as a result of the renovation of the system to facilitate reliable power supply to customers.

Mr Amanu gave the assurance on Thursday in Accra at a media tour at the Achimota substation as parts of its maintenance work under Substation Reliability and Enhancement Project.

The aim is to enhance the operational reliability of equipment at the Bulk Supply Points by replacing obsolete and faulty components, at various substations that are contributing to unreliable and low power quality in the power network.

The maintenance works include the re-configuration of some of the substations, installation of additional transformers, replacement of switch-gears, construction of Control Rooms, as well as the provision of capacitor banks and standby generators at some major substations

Mr Amanu said the project is funded by the government at a cost of 40 million Euros and about GH¢ 50 million with exceeding components on number of various sub-station across the country, to address power supply.

“GRIDCo is undertaking major replacement of over-aged equipment at its major substations across the country, including the Achimota substation, to enhance the substations’ capacity and operational reliability,” he added.

He indicated that the company has created six bays in the Achimota substation with new transformers to replace the old equipment which were built in 1965.

Mr Norbert Anku said other areas to be renovated include major substations in Kumasi, Takoradi, Cape Coast, Dunkwa, Tamale, Sunyani, Techiman, Aflao and Winneba.

Mr Anku expressed optimistic that the energy crisis could end by the end of 2015 as promised by, Dr Kwabena Donkor, Minister of Power if the Volta River Authority gets the power barges in time.

He said the construction of the new control room is made up of state-of-the art facility and is due to be completed before 2015 to ensure reliability in the supply of power in Accra.

Mr Anku said the June 3 disaster affected the equipment at the Achimota substation which got flooded.

He said the new control room has been constructed to withstand any natural disaster.

He said company has developed an effective maintenance culture in case the equipment develops faults.