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The power situation in the country is worsening everyday as state-owned power producer Volta River Authority (VRA) gets set to shut down three more of the hydro-electric power station’s six turbines.
The shutdown of the turbines taken off the production line is as a result of low water level in the 1,020-Megawatt Dam.
The Dam has run on five of its six turbines over the past months, contributing 632 megawatts (MW) to the national grid.
The planned shutdown was announced by the dam’s manager of electricals, Ebo Amoah.
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He said the chief executive of the facility is waiting for authorisation from government to shut down the turbines.
Mr Ebo Amoah in an interview with Citi FM said, “The water level is dropping because it’s not raining in the north. It means when the levels go down, you cannot run all the machines at a certain point. We are looking at 240ft as the minimum level so at 240ft you need to take certain decisions, bringing some of the machines down.”
“We are not rising, we are dropping but very slowly. Once it’s dropping, we are likely to reduce power generation. Every year when the water level is going low, we shut down some generators. We’ve delayed in bringing the generators down. This is because one needs authorization to do that so the powers that be should give that command so we go ahead and shut it down,” he added.
He said the situation could worsen in the coming days if the water levels go below 235ft.
“If you go below the 235, you will collapse the reservoir and for you to recover it, it will take a long time.”