[ 2017-01-23 ]

Dumsor Imminent As Power Sector Loses 600mw
Power outages, popularly known as dumsor, are
imminent in the coming days as the power sector is
on the verge of losing 600 megawatts (MW) of
generation by February 3, 2017 due to a complex
web of financial obligations and other challenges
confronting the national generator, the Volta
River Authority (VRA).

The power supply deficit is occurring mainly at
the Aboadze power enclave in the Western Region.

Generating plants

The Daily Graphic has gathered that as of the
close of last week, the VRA’s Takoradi Thermal
Plant Stations (TAPCO 1&2) were already down with
330MW of power, as the contractor for its
long-term service agreement (LTSA) refused to
carry out major inspection to demand the payment
of a $2 million debt owed it.

That aside, the Takoradi International Company
(TICO) is also going through challenges, leading
to the reduction of power output from 330MW to
155MW currently.

A third generator, T3, has not been operational
for several years now.

This leaves only one plant, AMERI, which is
designed to use only gas.

This means that from February 3, 2017 when the
Atuabo Gas Processing Plant will not receive
natural gas from the Jubilee Field for at least 15
days, that plant cannot also contribute any
generation to the national electricity grid.

VRA warns of dumsor

The Daily Graphic has a copy of a letter emanating
from the Chief Executive Officer of the VRA, Mr
Kirk Coffie, which warns of the impending return
to dumsor in January.

The letter, which was copied to the CEOs of the
Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCO) and the Electricity
Company of Ghana (ECG), warned them of the
possible return of dumsor from this month.

Maintenance debt

A highly placed source at the VRA told the Daily
Graphic that VRA had a long-term maintenance
service contract with a Dutch company to service
units and supply spare parts.

However, the VRA currently owes that company in
excess of $2 million and the company is demanding
payment before it starts work on the TAPCO plant,
which has already shut down for scheduled and
routine inspection, an exercise which precedes a
planned maintenance exercise, usually two months
thereafter.

According to the source, even if a payment plan
was agreed upon immediately, “the plant’s
maintenance in April and AMERI going down in
February mean about 580MW of power will be lost
from the grid”.

Another challenge

The fear of imminent “dumsor” is further
heightened by the planned shut down of gas supply
from the Jubilee Field to Atuabo for 15 days, to
be followed by a complete shutdown of the FPSO
Kwame Nkrumah situated on the Jubilee Field for
another 12 weeks to allow for the fixingof a
defective turret bearing.

The Daily Graphic gathered that the power
generating companies were, however, set to lead a
campaign on energy conservation.

Source - Daily Graphic

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