The Volta River Authority (VRA) has served notice to Ghanaians that there will be more power cuts in 2015.<\/p>\n
According to the Authority, the Akosombo Dam which is the nation\u2019s major power production planet is running below capacity.<\/p>\n
This was revealed by the VRA\u2019s Planning and Business Development Officer, Kofi Ellis at a stakeholder meeting with the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
[contextly_sidebar id=”Rfy33RECWGB4cGr28AV7iGq6cOEKYuKQ”]The meeting which was convened by the AGI was to get the stakeholders in Ghana\u2019s energy sector to brief industry players on the status of the ongoing power crisis.<\/p>\n
Mr. Ellis remarked that \u201c2015 is going to be a relatively difficult year,\u201d he told the Daily Graphic.<\/p>\n
He explained that aside the challenges with the Akosombo dam, another major contributing factor which will affect power supply in 2015 is the indebtedness of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) to power producers.<\/p>\n
The ECG\u2019s debt of about GH\u00a21 billion is preventing the VRA from settling its debts to banks in Ghana.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe owe every single bank in the country because we do not get the money we need to buy the crude that we need for production,\u201d Mr. Ellis remarked.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the VRA has signed an agreement with Africa Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) for the release of a $150 million loan facility<\/strong> <\/span><\/a>to give the Authority\u00a0more space to embark on projects to enhance its efficiency in power generation in the country.<\/p>\n Although the government together with stakeholders in the power sector have been working to resolve the energy crisis which has been ongoing for the past two years, the VRA says the crisis is far from over.<\/p>\n The VRA is expected to begin receiving gas from the Jubilee Oil fields but Mr. Ellis is cautioning the general public not to get their hopes up because the gas is not meant for additional power generation.<\/p>\n He predicted that by 2020, gas from the Jubilee Oil fields will be\u00a0completely used up which will make the country\u00a0revert to the purchase of expensive crude oil for power generation.<\/p>\n Mr. Ellis however indicated that if the Sankofa and Tweneboah-Enyera-Ntomme (TEN) projects come on stream by 2019, power generation will be stablized.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n By: Efua Idan Osam\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana
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