Loadshedding indeed over, but...- Power Ministry

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January 14, 2016 9:10 AM

As to whether loadshedding is finally over, Mr. Amuna said, barring any breakdown of any of the country's thermal plant, the country should have enough for 2016.

The Ministry of Power has now confirmed that Loadshedding may be over.

In a press conference organized by the ministry on Wednesday to update Ghanaians on the current state of energy supply in the country, head of the the Loadshedding Committee, William Amuna said no load had been shed in 2016 because there's enough generation.

" We have not shed any load for a month now. For the whole of 2016 our loadshedding directive to ECG, NEDCO and VRA have all been 0."

" As we speak we have enough supply to meet total demand for 2016. If your lights go off at some point it may be a distribution point problem and not a generation side problem."

Mr. Amuna added that the country currently has a reserve of 6% of generation capacity.

This notwithstanding, the country needs an approximate amount of GHC4 billion to ensure stable power. This is according to the Power Ministry is needed to purchase fuel to run the emergency plants- Ameri and KarPower Ship.

Deputy Power Minister, John Jinapor confirmed this at the press conference held on Wednesday.

“... The VRA has indicated that we require about 98 million dollars per month to procure fuel for the thermal plants. This translates into 1.8 billion dollars per-annum and if you do the conversion in cedis, it takes you to GHC4.5billion. It means that we have to work very had towards raising revenue to the tune of about GHC4.5billion this year...that is the stack reality that confronts us as a nation,” he explained.

“…If by accident, one plant goes down, especially the major ones we will have a setback...And so we need to observe the system for some time, a period of time before we can finally and possibly declare the load shedding over and possibly disband the load management team" he added.Currently, Ghana's available generation coming on board is as follows:

260MW Sunon Asogli project

38MW VRA TT2PP expansion project

Ameri 100MW project

20MW Solar plant

” The nation’s projected demand for 2016 is 2,477 MW. He added that if all generation projects are completed as scheduled, there will be enough generation capacity to meet the projected demand", Mr. Amuna said.

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