News Guide Africa

Tag: power load-shedding

  • Day-old Mahama govt saves Ghanaians from imminent load shedding 

    President John Mahama and Julius Debrah

     

     

    Adnan Adams Mohammed

     

    The day-old John Mahama administration has swiftly worked to avert an imminent power crisis it inherited from the NPP administration.

     

    A committee led by Julius Debrah, Chief of Staff, has managed to purchase emergency fuel from Nigeria and others in replace of gas supply cut from the West African Gas Pipeline Company Limited (WAPCo) due to a planned maintenance scheduled to take place from January 20 to February 16, 2025.

     

    It was estimated by the Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo) that, about US$ 89 million will be needed to to buy liquid fuel to replace the gas cut to all power generation plants in the Tema enclave.

     

    “A total of US$ 89.90 million is required to purchase liquid fuel to run thermal plants in order to meet demand for the period”, a GRIDCo report titled, “Power Supply Outlook For The WAGP Offshore Pigging From January 20 – February 16, 2025 And Projections For 2025”  stated. “System demand is projected to grow steadily to an annual peak of 4,415.42MW by the last quarter of 2025.”

     

    The report revealed that, the planned maintenance which was initially scheduled to take place in October 2024, but the immediate past NPP government coerced the company to postpone the exercise to this year.

     

    “This maintenance was originally scheduled for October 2024 but had to be rescheduled at the request of the Ministry of Energy”, the report noted.

     

    This is expected to affect gas supply to power generation plants, basically in Tema enclaves. It is expected that, there will be deficit in generation capacity during the period of the WAPCO pigging exercise. There is therefore the need to procure liquid fuel to run thermal plants in Tema to meet demand.

     

    It further indicated that, “There will accordingly be the need to secure additional generation resources with dependable capacity of at least 244.66 MW by the last quarter of the year to ensure sustained supply adequacy by the end of the year.”

     

    This is likely to resort in load shedding in days to come.

     

  • Postponed WAPCO maintainance to cause load shedding… as US$89mn needed to purchase liquid fuel to run thermal plants

    ECG and GRIDCo logo

     

     

     

    Adnan Adams Mohammed

     

    The West African Gas Pipeline Company Limited (WAPCO) has indicated it will soon undertake planned maintenance termed as ‘pigging’ (cleaning) exercise offshore from January 20 to February Febr 16, 2025.

    WAPCO logo

    Ghana GRID Company Limited in a document titled, “Power Supply Outlook For The WAGP Offshore Pigging From

    January 20 – February 16, 2025 And Projections For 2025 revealed that, the planned maintenance which was initially scheduled to take place in October 2024, but the immediate past NPP government coerced the company to postpone the exercise to this year.

     

    This is expected to affect gas supply to power generation plants, basically in Tema enclaves. It is expected that, there will be deficit in generation capacity during the period of the WAPCO pigging exercise. There is therefore the need to procure liquid fuel to run thermal plants in Tema to meet demand.

     

    “A total of US$ 89.90 million is required to purchase liquid fuel to run thermal plants in order to meet demand for the period”, the GRIDCo document stated. “System demand is projected to grow steadily to an annual peak of 4,415.42MW by the last quarter of 2025.”

     

    It further indicated that, “There will accordingly be the need to secure additional generation resources with dependable capacity of at least 244.66 MW by the last quarter of the year to ensure sustained supply adequacy by the end of the year.”

     

    This is likely to resort in load shedding in days to come.

     

  • Businesses demand load shedding timetable

    Electricity supply lines

     

    Adnan Adams Mohammed 

     

    Business operators and residential consumers are demanding from the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) to publish a load-shedding timetable as the erratic power supply situation continues to worsen in recent times.

     

    This follows after many Ghanaians expressed dissatisfaction with the ECG and the Energy Ministry for such a situation, which is a disturbing development and affecting businesses

     

    Key players in the industry, including the IES, have raised concerns over the situation, attributing it to financial challenges. But, the energy ministry has pleaded with Ghanaians to be a little patient as it works to resolve the challenge.

     

    “What has happened over the past few days is that some obligation owed by GNPC to WAPCo was an issue”, Deputy Energy Minister, Andrew Egyapa Mercer, has noted. “WAPCo threatened GNPC and it has made some initial payments, but it wasn’t satisfactory. We requested the Ministry of Finance to top up. We had to go through some approval processes.”  

     

    “As of yesterday [last week Wednesday] evening, the Ministry of Finance had approved a sum of US$10 million to pay for a part of that debt. So that was the hiccup that we encountered that led to the power outages we experienced in the past few days. But that has been resolved.”

     

    However, the Deputy Minority Leader, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah has indicated that Ghana is currently grappling with “a severe case of load shedding, commonly known as ‘dumsor’”. 

     

    The situation, the former energy minister noted, “is evidently clear, with 500 MW of load being shed as of tonight, January 9, 2024”.

     

    The Ellembelle MP observed that “Numerous areas have been plunged into darkness due to the unavailability of gas to fuel thermal plants within the Tema enclave, which can be attributed to financial constraints”.

     

    Specifically, Mr Buah mentioned that the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) “is currently unable to fulfil its payment obligations to the West African Gas Pipeline, which is responsible for transporting gas from Takoradi to Tema for power generation”.

     

    “You can also track the ultimate problem to the weakest link in the value chain –ECG’s inability to pay off-takers”, he explained.

     

    “Compounding” the situation, Mr Buah added, “is the absence of a load-shedding timetable, which hampers households and businesses from planning accordingly”.

     

    To him, the “lack of transparency and communication regarding the power outage schedule only adds to the frustration and inconvenience experienced by the affected population”.

     

    “It is worth highlighting that even during the worst periods of dumsor in the past, the power outage never reached the 500-megawatts threshold currently being shed. Yet, the media associated with the NPP interestingly see this as no ‘dumsor’.”

     

    “Their loud silence on the current situation is deafening”, the lawmaker criticised.

     

    The Ghana Grid Company must, as a matter of urgency, come out with a load-shedding timetable to allow households and businesses to plan better”, he demanded.

     

    Some Ghanaians have been complaining about the power situation on Facebook for the past three days.