Ghana's power instability predates recent gas supply issues – IES
Institute for Energy Security (IES)
Xatse Derick Emmanuel, a research and policy analyst at the Institute for Energy Security (IES), has stated that Ghana's power instability, known as 'Dumsor', has been an ongoing issue, not just a result of the recent gas supply challenges from WAPCo.
Read full articleMr. Xatse noted that Ghana has faced a power generation deficit of approximately 600 MW since the beginning of the year. This comes after the Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo) and the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) announced a three-week power supply interruption due to reduced gas supply from Nigeria.
While GRIDCo and ECG attributed the intermittent power supply to maintenance work by a Nigerian gas supplier, Mr. Xatse emphasized that most of Ghana’s thermal plants can operate on alternative fuels like Light Crude Oil, Heavy Fuel Oil, or Liquefied Petroleum Gas, except for Sunon-Asogli Power and AMERI plants which rely solely on natural gas. With adequate financial support, these plants could meet and exceed Ghana’s peak power demand.
Mr. Xatse concluded that the ongoing power issues should not be solely blamed on the gas supply challenges, as the country has been operating at a power deficit even before these recent developments
