Prepare For Likely Unstable Power Supply

Energy analyst are of the view that, the intermission in Gas supply for the country is likely to result in power challenges over a 15 day period in February 2017 and the following month-March.

A letter from the Volta River Authority (VRA) communicating the imminent challenge to key stakeholders in the sector said power from the AMERI Energy during the same period will also not be available to support the system.

Part of the letter forwarded to the Power Ministry on the challenge and signed by Chief Executive Officer of the VRA, Kirk Koffie said: “I shall be grateful if the System Control Manager will meet with our Plant Managers to manage the power system during the above stated period to limit nay supply challenges.”

However, the Ministry of Power is convinced that a possible cut in gas supply in the country won’t adversely affect the production of electricity.

According to the Deputy Minister of Power, John Jinapor, the country’s power producers can rely on crude oil to power the various power plants to adequately serve the energy needs of Ghanaians in the absence of gas.

The Deputy Minister made the remark in an interview on Eyewitness News in reaction to a letter the Volta River Authority wrote to GRIDCo informing it of a 15-day interruption in gas supply between February and March 2017.

The Authority in the letter further indicated that “power from Ameri Energy will also not be available during that period.”

Ghanaians have however expressed worry over the situation after enduring intense load-shedding for nearly three years.

But Mr. Jinapor observed that the nation will not be plunge into darkness if the incoming New Patriotic Party handles the situation properly.

He explained that earlier in 2016, a similar situation occurred yet the nation was enjoyed 24 hours of uninterrupted power supply throughout the period because they relied on lite crude oil.

“If we do our things well, if we continue to put in place the right mechanisms and the right framework and we build on the gains we have made so far, we should never have load shedding and this is factual. Even if we don’t have gas from the FPSO, most of the plants in the west; thus the Aboadze enclave can run on lite crude oil. This year, getting into the election we had a 21 day shutdown of the FPSO, it did not affect production. And so if you could manage it for 21 days, it means you can equally manage it for one month,” Mr. Jinapor noted.

He also explained that additional plants are coming on-board which will supplement the hydro power generated from the Akosombo dam.

“…We are having additional capacities coming onboard. So if you don’t have gas Ameri may not produce but you have a complement of between about 370 [megawatts]. The second batch of Karpower is also available and will start producing in around February. So you are looking to about 600 megawatts of extra capacity coming on board. In addition to that the hydro levels have gone up to appreciable levels. From that low of about 235 we hit over 250 so it means that given all the conditions that we have we should not go into load shedding,” the Deputy Minister explained.

Also, the African Center for Energy Policy (ACEP) had earlier warned that Ghana may face power crisis in 2017 over disruption in gas supply.

It further admonished the incoming government to tackle as a matter of urgency challenges in the power sector since power supply from the nation’s hydro power sources are still dim.

The VRA announcement comes days after the newly elected Chairman of the Senior Staff Association of the VRA, Cephas Duse, revealed that the power producer is owed to the tune of five billion Ghana cedis.

This he said is crippling the company’s effort to be financially viable. He mentioned the mining sector and the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) as the major debtors of the company.

“As at September 2016, the independent power producers owe the VRA to the tune of five billion Ghana cedis.” Mr. Duse made this known in an interview with Citi News on the side-lines of a biennial conference at Akuse in the Eastern Region.

The conference among other things was to discuss the issues affecting the company and the way forward. Newly elected executives were sworn into office to steer the affairs of the association in the company.

According to him, “What is happening with the VRA is that, we basically procure LCO gas and these are very expensive inputs; and they are dominated in foreign currency and when you buy these inputs it’s expected that when you sell to the public you get your money back. And when we don’t get the money back we turn to the bank to get loans to buy again and the cycle continues. We sell to them and they don’t pay,” he lamented.