Gov’t blames power outages on equipment failure

Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, Minister of Energy and Petroleum has attributed Ghana’s power challenges to equipment damage and issues relating to fuel supply.

With an installed capacity of over 2,800 megawatts, it was expected that the current peak demand of about 2,000 megawatts would be met fully with over 800 megawatts reserve.

However, as a result of damage to equipment and fuel supply disruptions, a supply deficit of between 300 and 400 megawatt has had to be contained during the peak periods from 6pm to 10 pm every day.

Mr Armah-Kofi Buah, in a speech delivered on his behalf by Professor Thomas Akabzaa, Chief Director of the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum, appealed to consumers to cope with the new load-shedding schedule of ECG to manage the supply during these trying periods.

“It is a fact that has been proved in many countries including Ghana that tremendous energy saving opportunities could be harnessed to contain the current situation and subsequently pave the way for a sustainable energy supply, which will not have serious financial implications on consumers,” he said.

Kofi Buah also noted that the Energy Commission and Energy Foundation would lead a major energy efficiency campaign, which would be launched in the coming weeks, adding that “the multi-faceted campaign will involve all citizens and residents of this country.”

He said already the major industries and mines have agreed to voluntarily reduce demand during the peak periods with a 10 megawatt reduction already registered.

The minister stated that a similar action by residential consumers is expected to reduce the peak load by another 100 megawatts during peak hours.

“The combined efforts of all of us could help reduce or avoid load shedding and I implore all Ghanaians to embrace the strategies that will be outlined by the Energy Commission in the coming weeks.”