The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has stated that owing to some system challenges, parts of the Ashanti regional capital and its environs will experience intermittent power supply between now until it is resolved, hopefully by the end of the year.
According to the Managing Director for the ECG, Kwame Agyemang Budu, these power outages is a result of the ongoing construction of a 330kV transmission line expected to be completed by December 2021.
“From Kintampo to Tamale and Tamale to Bolgatanga, those two areas have been completed. They are yet to complete the last phase which is from Kumasi to Kintampo and by the end of the year, we should have a full 330KV transmission line from Kumasi all the way to the North.”
Some of the affected areas are KMA, Asokwa, Oforikom, Ejisu, and other MMDAs close to Kumasi.
During a press briefing on Thursday, Mr Agyemang Budu attributed the power challenges to the overloading of GRIDCo’s 161KV transmission line and Bui dam’s shutdown, leading to low voltages to parts of the country that receive power from Abomaso.
Kwame Agyemang Budu indicated that constructing this 330KV transmission line will help offload some of the congestion on the 161kV line.
He also iterated government’s decision to relocate the Ameri plant to the Ashanti Region to also help solve the issue.
“All our power generators are all the way in the south and power going to the north goes through Kumasi so by the time the power gets here (Kumasi) losses are incurred, voltages are reduced so they want to establish a plant here so that power going to the north will not be a problem and it will not affect the Ashanti region as a whole,” he explained.
According to the Managing Director, the challenge confronting the country’s power supply is from system challenges and not the generation of power.
“The problem here in the Ashanti region is system challenges whereby the 161kV transmission line is overloaded. That is why we are having all these problems. We do not have a timetable for these power outages. This is because we have not gotten to that level.
“GRIDCo supplies us with power and they have not stated that there is no power. There is power but their line is just congested and all they need to do is to upgrade it,” he stated.
In the meantime, he stated that the government has put in place some short-term measures.
“We are also strengthening the existing networks to help evacuate more power. Our short term measures are within a three to six months time frame. We are replacing our multi-jointed cable from Anyomaso to Boadi and from Boadi to Kassi.”
