afrol News, 29 April - The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has assured the Ghanaians that the country has more than enough generation capacity to meet the power demands despite of recent power outages in the country.

The ECG Engineer, Owura K Sarfo, said although there might be faults in the major power plants resulting to power cuts, the plants are currently in a good state to produce required power supply for consumption.

He said adequate arrangements have been made to meet the power supply needs of the country in 2009 and beyond, assuring that the country is not facing the power shortages.

He blamed the recent power outages to the incidents of supply-demand imbalance which was beyond the capacity of the reserve margin on running generating machines of the company.

“The reserve margin available at any time could either be reserve capacity on a running generating unit or a reserve machine waiting to be connected to the system. In the event of a sudden change in the demand-supply balance, the reserve capacities on running machines are immediately called upon to correct the imbalance,” he said.

Mr Sarfo said if the imbalance is greater than running reserve, it will require the startup of reserve generators, saying it usually results in total system shutdown causing loss of supply to the entire country.

He said the other plant, Volta River Authority (VRA) as part of its commitment to ensure supply adequacy throughout the year have put measures in place to ensure that all its generating machines at Akosombo, Kpong and Takoradi are kept in good working condition.

Meanwhile, the government announced an intention to scrap energy subsidy for petroleum and electricity pricing in the country.

The government has further endorsed the plans of the key entities in the public energy sector to access commercial capital and create financial relief for their operations through the expansion of their economies of scale.

Ghana has followed in the steps of its West African neighbour Nigeria, to scrap subsidies on petroleum and electricity, a move that has angered citizens saying those are essential in everyday life.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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