GRIDCO PROMISES TO STABILISE POWER SUPPLY (PAGE 23, JUNE 17, 2010)

Ghana Grid Company Ltd (GRIDCO) has initiated moves to regularise and stabilise the power supply system in Accra and its environs.
Contracted projects under the initiative include the stringing of a fourth transmission circuit 30 kilometre line from the main switch yard in Tema to the sub-station at Achimota at a cost of U$ 1.5 million to be undertaken by SAE Power Lines.
Another contract is to be awarded to Fedders Lloyd Corporation, an Indian company to upgrade the Mallam substation with additional two 66 megavolts ampere (MVA) transformers at a cost of U$5 million.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic in an interview on the recent increase in tariffs and plans to satisfy the demand of consumers, the Public Affairs Manager of the GRIDCO, Mr Albert Quainoo, disclosed that the company was concerned about the power situation and, therefore, had started immediate plans to improve its services to its clients.
He stated that GRIDCO currently runs on three lines from Tema to Achimota with each running on a capacity of 215 MVA.
Mr Quainoo explained that anytime there was a problem, the company had to inconvenience consumers to undertake maintenance but said with the fourth line, there would be room for redundancy on the lines which would, therefore, not affect operations .
He said the redundancy would make it possible to take one line out for the maintenance without causing any outage .
Mr Quainoo said the additional two 66MVA transformers which would upgrade the Mallam substation was a World Bank funded project being implemented by GRIDCO in conjunction with the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) .
He noted that under the project, one of the transformers would be mounted by the end of this year.
Mr Quainoo appealed to people operating in the areas where GRIDCO has its towers to stay away from the locations to enable the contractors to work within time .
He said the work would entail pulling of cables and equipment and, therefore, their presence would hinder work and deny the contractor the opportunity to complete the project on schedule .
Mr Quainoo was of the view that these projects would bring a lot of relief to customers noting that with the completion of the two projects customers in the Western part of Accra would have benefited from them.
Power outages in the country have been a concern to users of electrical gadgets and general clients while the operators have complained that obsolete equipment and low tariffs were some of bootle-necks hindering effective operation. .
Mr Quainoo gave the assurance that after these, other projects would follow.