The Volta River Authority (VRA) has confirmed the water level of the Akosombo Dam is reducing but has allayed fears Ghana’s Power situation was going to worsen in coming months.
The water level of the Akosombo dam is reportedly reducing steadily and it is feared the situation could force a shutdown of the dam if conditions do not improve in 60 days.
The Akosombo Dam serves as Ghana’s biggest plant with an installed capacity of 1020 megawatts. It currently produces about 775 megawatts, which is 76% of installed capacity.
A total shutdown of the dam will leave Ghana with only 538 megawatts of electricity which will not meet the demands of consumers.
According to the Head of Communications at the Volta River Authority, Sam Fletcher, the VRA has made plans to augment power supply should the dam be shutdown.
“This isn’t a situation that the VRA hasn’t seen before, we have saw the worst in 2006 and 2010. We are making provisions for the thermal plant to come and augment what we would have lost in terms of capacity from the dam,” he said
He added that “We are still in the inflow season. The next three months ahead of us is described as the inflow period and things can change”
He also called on Ghanaians to remain calm, noting that “we are not saying this to create panic. We are saying this because we believe that Ghanaians have the right to know about this. We are managing it, we have managed it before and we have the capability to do so.”
Mr. Sam denied that the dam was already under-producing saying “what happening is that every figure we are having there is based on demand and it also based on which other sources are coming in.”
“You don’t produce electricity because you want to do it, there are times that we have over produced to avoid longer period of load shedding” he added
He cautioned Ghanaians against misusing electricity.
“The way we misuse power needs to be checked. Imagine we produce so much and even if we lose 30% in total”
“If we have 2000 and we are losing 30% there will be no need for load shedding. The way we use electricity, the way we treat this expensive commodity needs to be checked.”
Source:citi online
