Power outages due to gas shortages, not Sunon Asogli shutdown – GRIDCo clarifies

Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo) has clarified that ongoing power outages affecting parts of the country stem from a shortage of gas needed to power thermal plants, disrupting electricity transmission.

GRIDCo's Corporate Communications Manager, Dzifa Bampoh, attributed the shortages to "commercial issues" involving payment and negotiations with gas suppliers, rather than any technical faults or shutdowns.

"As far as we are aware as a transmission entity, we are aware of some commercial challenges with supply in reference to gas," Mrs. Bampoh stated.

She explained that: "When we say commercial challenges, it means there are agreements, payment, and negotiations that need to be made with the gas suppliers."

The gas supply issues have resulted in reduced generation capacity, leaving GRIDCo unable to transmit the required amount of power to the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).

This shortage has heightened public concerns of a potential return to ‘dumsor,’ the recurring power outages that plagued Ghana in previous years.

Mrs. Bampoh emphasised that the outages are unrelated to the recent shutdown of Sunon Asogli Power Limited, which ceased operations due to ECG’s unpaid debt.

She noted that even if Sunon Asogli were operational, gas supply shortages would still hinder its functionality.

“It doesn’t even have to do with the recent outages. The current outages we are experiencing, including myself, are really because we don’t have the full quantum of indigenous gas supply in Ghana to meet our demands,”GRIDCo’s Corporate Communication Manager added.

To address these outages, she assured the public that the government is actively working to resolve the commercial issues with gas suppliers, which would help stabilise gas supply and restore consistent power generation and transmission across affected areas.

-classfmonline