Power situation Is Solved From Today – Boakye Agyarko

Energy Minister, Boakye Agyarko, says the unstable power situation in the country should return to some level of normalcy from today [Saturday], February 25, 2017.

According to him, the recent unplanned power cuts experienced in various parts of Accra and other parts of the country, was as a result of technical works on some of the country’s power plants.

He said although the remedial works was to end on Monday, it had to be extended because some works were still outstanding.

A press release signed by the Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo), Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), and the Volta Region Authority (VRA) earlier in January, announced the shutdown of the Ghana Gas Company for some remedial works to increase the country’s generation capacity.

The release assured Ghanaians that, the development would not result in unplanned power cuts popularly known as ‘dumsor’.

But reports gathered by Citi News indicates that several areas, especially in Accra, have in the last few weeks suffered power cuts.

The Minister for Energy, Boakye Agyarko in an interview on Citi FM’s Eyewitness News, said “we have gone through from 1st February till now with very minimal disruption. We should have come to the end of the program on Feb 23rd, however Tullow, the field operator, requested a couple of day’s extension to do the peak testing and so it moved from 21st to 24th February. Today [Friday], is the day when we come to the end of the disruptions and this evening we start the flow of gas, which brings us to our normal state.”

“We’ve gone through two days of disruptions but I can tell Ghanaians that that is the end of the disruptions,” he added.

Meanwhile, the end of the remedial works indicates that, the process to connect the TEN fields to the Atuabo plant has been completed with a significant increase in the amount of natural gas produced to run the power generating facilities at Aboadze, to improve the overall reliability of power supply to the general public.