IES opposes move to sell VRA thermal plants

The Institute of Energy Security (IES) has kicked against a potential sale of thermal plants belonging to the Volta River Authority (VRA) to private entities by government.

“We think VRA has the capacity to manage this. It is dangerous for government to virtually hand over the majority of our power generation into the hands of the private sector. Power, electricity to be precise, is a national security commodity which affects every sector of this country, so government must be cautious," Gilbert Richmond Rockson, Principal Researcher at IES told Class FM on Monday, August 28.

This comes in the wake of an advertisement in the Daily Graphic on August 23, 2017, noting the sale of at least a majority stake in specified thermal plants of VRA.

Mr Rockson said: “As at now, our installed capacity is over 4200MW. Thermal constitutes the larger chunk of our energy mix. The installed capacity of Independent Power Producers and other plants is about 1900MW… Akosombo and Kpong Hydro plants is 1180MW, even though installed capacity is 1040MW.

"The major issues facing VRA are financial and technical or operational challenges. In fact, government is taking steps to settle the financial challenge which has been the bane of the energy sector. This should afford VRA the opportunity to clear its liabilities, restoring it financials to normalcy. This should also help them invest into their operations," he explained.

He was of the view that, "With a concessionaire taking over management of ECG, its operations should improve tremendously. Once distribution losses are curtailed or minimised, revenues from distribution should improve which will affect VRA as well."

He insisted: "Government’s actions have contributed significantly to the woes of the company. It must deal with the challenges, rather than taking the easier option of offloading it."