A former Power Minister and NDC MP for Pru East, Dr Kwabena Donkor has stated that the relocation of the Ameri power plant does not contribute to increased power generation but has other strategic purposes.
According to him, the relocation of the Ameri plant plays a vital role in stabilizing the grid and enables GRIDCo to reduce its losses during transmission.
Speaking on News File on April 20, he stated that in 2014, the National Democratic Congress government planned to situate power generation in the middle belt of the country but fuel was a major challenge.
“A gas pipeline had gotten to Prestea, but there wasn’t a gas pipeline to Kumasi and therefore a physical relocation at that time would not have made sense without fuel. Fortunately, unfortunately, the people of Ghana decided that we should leave the scene so there was a truncation of the process. Other than that, generation in the middle corridor would have happened earlier,” he said.
The former Power Minister stated that, there is an advantage in having generation in the middle corridor.
Dr Donkor stated that the power transmission company, GRIDCo is indebted to the Volta River Authority (VRA) due to transmission losses exceeding the limits approved by the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC).
According to him, when generation is moved closer to a market, the amount of transmission losses are limited.
“It also helps stabilize the grid. You see, there is a certain balance that the grid must have. If there is a situation where until now we have the Eastern and Western corridors in terms of generation and even then there is a delicate balance, you cannot over-generate from one corridor with nothing coming from the other. The grid will trip.”
“The initial interconnected transmission system, there is a certain balance needed. So having generation in the central corridor will help that,” he said.
The NDC has largely raised concerns about the amount spent in relocating the plant, as well as the renaming of the plant, despite the NPP’s initial opposition of its acquisition while in opposition.
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