A planned shutdown by the Ghana National Gas Company (GNGC) for maintenance and other works in February, expected to result in a generation shortfall of 230MW from the AMERI plant whose operations depend solely on gas supply from the GNGC, has fueled speculative publications of a coming crisis, locally catcalled ‘dumsor’.

But the Volta River Authority (VRA), the Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo) and the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) in a joint press statement on power supply arrangements for February 2017, say they “have put in adequate measures to mitigate the impact of the shortfall”.

• The measures include:
  We plan to generate additional power from the Akosombo and Kpong hydroelectric plants, and also from the Tema and Kpone thermal plants which operate on light crude oil (LCO) and diesel respectively, while imports from Cote d’Ivoire will be purchased to make up for the supply deficit.
• Additionally, some of the thermal units at Aboadze that have been shut down for planned maintenance would be returned into service during this period.
  The planned shutdown of GNGC is also to allow for the connection and commissioning of the gas pipeline system and other equipment from the TEN fields to the Atuabo processing plant from 3rd to 20th February, 2017.

The press statement said the connection of the TEN fields to the Atuabo plant is critical as it will significantly increase the amount of natural gas to run the power generating facilities at Aboadze and improve the overall reliability of power supply to the general public.

“We take this opportunity to assure electricity consumers and the general public that the power situation will be managed in the most efficient manner during this period to address the anticipated challenges in power supply“, the trio assured.