Ghana: How the power shortage is being fought

New African, Oct 2007

Following our story in the June issue, "Ghana: Electricity crisis worsens", the country's minister for energy, Kofi Adda, has unveiled a programme aimed at solving the electricity problems in the country.

The power crisis in Ghana has resulted in the shedding of load throughout rhe country since 2006. The current deficit in generation capacity is about 300MW. The power supply shortage was precipitated by the following:

* Technical difficulties with the generating units at the Aboadze Thermal Plant.

* Unavailability of power from Côte d'Ivoire, due to difficulties in their power system.

* Low level of water in the Akosombo Dam.

The government plans to deal with the crisis by bringing additional power generation capacity to close the deficit, reducing load through energy conservation and efficiency in consumption and increasing capacity, energy conservation and efficient programming.

The government has decided to opt for the third plan for the immediate and long-term solutions to the crisis. These are the specific measures being implemented:

1. Emergency power programme involving the procurement and operation of 158MW power plants by July 2007.

2. Installation and operation of 100MW plant by a consortium of mining companies by July 2007.

3. Installation and operation of 84MW plant by Ranhill Corp of Malaysia by October 2007 (potentially September 2007).

4. Installation of 126MW plant by the Volta River Authority by December this year.

5. Importation and distribution of CFLs (energy saver bulbs). Six million lightbulbs have been ordered for distribution to the public. This will save about 200MW during the peak period (6-10pm).

6. Public awareness and education campaign on energy conservation and efficiency.

So when will the power rationing end? By September/October this year, the government will have added 342MW (effective 300MW) to the national grid. This will rise to 410MW by December this year, and will cancel the current 300MW deficit and restore power supply to the pre-rationing levels. This will effectively end the scheduled blackouts by September/October this year.

In the medium term, the government plans to have an installed capacity of 3,000MW by 2010. This will be a substantial increase from the current installed capacity of 1,730MW.

The Ministry of Energy is in the process of procuring additional power plants to be installed in the next 12-18 months. Some of these projects have already started:

* 220MW rising to 330MW power plant procured from Aistom of Switzerland operational by September 2008.

* 125MW Osagyefo Barge in 2008.

* 400MW Bui hydro plant by 2011.

* 110MW addition to Tico plant in Takoradi by 2009.

Government policy of allowing independent power producers (IPPs) to feed the national grid will provide the rest to raise installed capacity to 3,000MW. Already several interested groups have been signed on to work towards 2010.

Construction work has already started on the first "waste-to-power" plant in Kumasi to produce 50MW for the metropolis. And when fully operational, the West Africa Gas Pipeline will significantly reduce the running cost of the Aboadze Plant, Osagyefo Barge and others to be built later.

The government is working towards finding a long term solution to the energy problem to facilitate our drive towards achieving medium income status by 2015. According to the opposition National Democratic Congress, President Kufuor's NPP government has not added anything to the power supply levels they handed over to our government. They also say:

* The NPP has not followed the NDC plan ro add 100MW per year to the supply.

* The NPP has no long term plan for power supply.

But the following are the facts about what the NPP government has done or is doing about the power supply situation:

* The NDC did only one retrofitting of the Akosombo turbines in their 19-year rule. When the NPP assumed office in 2000, the NDC had started and completed only one of the six turbines. The NPP has completed retrofitting the other five turbines.

* The NPP has paid for the 16% share of the West Africa Gas Pipeline.

* The NPP government has successfully brought to Ghana the 125MW Osagyefo Barge from Italy. The barge was acquired by the NDC but it was never able to bring it down.

* When the NDC handed over power, the Aboadze plant was producing at 17% capacity. This has been raised by the NPP to 90% capacity.

* In the current budget, the NPP government has set aside $70m to emphasise its commitment to the long term solution.

* The NPP government has been able to source funding for the Bui Dam and work is due to start this month (October).