Benin, Togo ask Ghana for more power

A delegation from Benin and Togo, led by the Beninois Minister of Energy, Bathelemy D. Kassa, has met with the Ghanaian Minister of Energy and Petroleum, Emmanuel Armah-Buah, to discuss and explore possible opportunities for increased power supply to Togo and Benin.

At a crunch meeting held at the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum Friday March 1, 2013 and attended by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Volta River Authority (VRA), Mr. Kweku Awotwi, the Managing Director of Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo), Mr. Charles Darku, and other officials of the Ministry of Energy and the two Power companies, the delegation lamented the precarious power situation in their countries and asked for Ghana’s assistance to remedy the situation.

According to Mr. Bathelemy Kassa, the current power supply arrangement of 50MW on week days (off peak) and weekends as well as 35MW during peak periods on weekdays was no longer adequate for their country’s need.

He therefore asked the Ghanaian Minister to consider increasing power supply to curtail their predicament.

Hon. Buah, in his response, briefed the delegation on the current challenges Ghana faces in its power sector.

He told the delegation about plans to bring on stream additional power within the next few weeks, promising to work out some arrangements to increase supply to them as soon as additional power was generated.