The Energy Minister, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, has said the government is working to address recent power challenges bedeviling the country.
Speaking on Wednesday, he said generation capacity was, however, not an issue for them.
“At no time has our peak demand exceeded our generation capacity. So when people start shouting that we don’t have enough to put the light on, that is not the issue.”
According to the Minister, Ghana has an installed peak capacity of 5,282 MW, and the highest system peak load in March 2022 was 3,469 MW.
Among the challenges, Dr. Prempeh cited the fire at the Aboadze plant, which “has led to a lot of intermittent power curtailments in parts of Western Region, Central Region, and even Accra.”
He also noted that GRIDCo is trying to put the whole network in a circuit “such that we can wheel energy where it is needed.”
“But that has also meant we are increasingly having trip-offs if the load imbalance is unfavourable to the system, so the system decides to shut itself down to prevent machinery and equipment losses,” he explained.
In addition, he said, transmission lines are congested and are causing trips in power.
“Parts of the Kasoa [Bulk Supply Point] system are also going off because of the congestion and everything that is happening.”
Dr. Prempeh assured Ghanaians that the government will work to address these challenges.
“It is true [we are having intermittent power cuts], but I hope that Ghanaians bear with us. We are going to work around the clock to make sure that we sort it out so that we keep the lights on.”
