The Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) has reiterated the need for huge investments in the country’s power sector following a recent nationwide power outage on Sunday, March 7.
The Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo) assigning reasons for the nationwide power outage through a press release, attributed the development to a technical fault on one of its major transmission lines between Prestea and Obuasi which resulted in a total shutdown of its power system.
“This situation led to overloads on other adjacent transmission lines, leading to a sequence of trips and an eventual power system shutdown in the country,” GRIDCo said in a statement.
According to ACEP, overaged and weak transmission infrastructure coupled with inadequate available transfer capacity to meet the demand requirements of the major load centres are responsible for the power transmission challenges faced by GRIDCo.
The energy policy think tank therefore reitereated the need for significant investments in expansion, additions and upgrades of the country’s transmission system to improve power transmission.
“The problems with the transmission sub-sector have received less attention in the discussions around the power sector challenges faced
by the country. Over time, the transmission system has been consistently performing poorly on the basis of transmission losses and voltage violations. Transmission loses in particular has been a consistent and a recurrent challenge of the transmission system over the years,” said ACEP.
“In 2019, the system lost 4.7 percent of the power generated, a 19.4 percent increase from 2018. System losses by the end of the first half of 2020 increased to 5.28 percent of total power generated,” added ACEP.
The group in a press briefing on Thursday, urged government to in the short term use parts of the ESLA proceeds to provide the needed critical equipment in the transmission system.
“The sustainability of GRIDCo depends on a reformed power sector that pays for the investments in the transmission of the power sector. The fiscal position of government makes it difficult for the budget to continue to sustain investments in the transmission system. In the short term, some parts of the ESLA proceeds should be made available for investment in critical equipment in the transmission system,” remarked ACEP.
