GRIDCo, ECG assure consumers: Reconstruction exercise not load-shedding

• Posted on April 11, 2022April 11, 2022
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

The management of the Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo) has assured the public that the reconstruction works it started recently will not lead to load shedding, popularly known as ‘Dumsor’.

A joint statement issued by GRIDCo and the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) in Accra yesterday said reconstruction work on GRIDCo’s transmission lines had commenced since last Saturday and assured the public that the work would not orchestrate power outages.

“For the information of the public, Phase One of the reconstruction exercise of the transmission line from the Mallam Substation to Avenor was undertaken and successfully completed in November 2021, without any significant disturbance to power delivery in Accra and its environs. 

“Phase Two of the exercise — from the Achimota Substation to Avenor — will similarly not disrupt power delivery in Accra,” the statement said.

Reliable supply

It explained that as part of measures to improve power delivery in Accra and its environs, GRIDCo and the ECG commissioned the Pokuase and Kasoa substations. 

It added that the bulk supply points at the Kasoa, Mallam, Accra Central, Pokuase and Achimota substations had enough transformer capacity to meet the desired demand without any load curtailment or shedding.

“We wish once again to reassure Ghanaians that GRIDCo and ECG are collaborating effectively to deliver power while the reconstruction work goes on,” the statement added.

Background

GRIDCo’s reassurance comes after press reports that ‘Dumsor’ had returned to Accra and would go on for 84 days.

This was in reference to a public statement issued by the company last Friday, announcing that it was going to reconstruct its transmission lines from the Achimota to the Mallam substations and that would result in power outages in some communities.

The bulk power transmitter gave the scope of work to include the taking out of service two 161 kilovolt (KV) transmission lines (that is, Achimota to Accra Central and Achimota to Mallam) from Saturday, April 9, this year to Thursday, June 30, next year.

The initial statement said during the period, customers served by the ECG between the Achimota substation at Dzorwulu and Avenor in Accra would experience power outages during the day.

“The outage is to enable GRIDCo to upgrade the transmission capacity on each line. This important exercise is to meet the growing demand for electricity in Accra and its environs,” GRIDCo explained and apologised for any inconvenience that might be caused during the period.

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