The Minister of Energy, Honorable Boakye Agyarko has cut the sod for the “PROJECT FOR REINFORCEMENT OF POWER SUPPLY TO ACCRA CENTRAL” to improve upon the quality and reliability of power supply to the Central Business District Area of Accra.
The Minister said, the project is a landmark contribution to Ghana-Japan relationship which dates back to 1920s and looked forward to more of this partnership between Ghana and Japan under the leadership of His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, President of the Republic of Ghana.
He said, the project has come at a time when the country was working to increase its generating capacity to address challenges in the power sector. He congratulated GRIDCo and ECG for the Project which seeks to address the deteriorating quality of power to this very important area of the nation’s capital that contributes immensely to the national economy. He urged GRIDCo and ECG to work with the Contractors and Consultants to ensure that the project is completed on time.
The Minister said electricity demand in the country continues to grow roughly by 10 percent annually. For this reason, projects such as this and others are welcome to enable the Nation supply consumers with their electricity energy demand.
“This Government’s vision for the provision of a safe, reliable and secure power supply also includes initiatives such as restructuring of debts of the utility companies and securing firm commitments for the reliable supply of fuel to the Thermal Plants”, he said. In the Government’s bid to boost the energy mix of the Ghana Power System, efforts are being made to increase the amount of Renewable Energy in the National Grid, he added.
The Chief Executive Officer of Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo), Ing. William Amuna, in his welcome address expressed his gratitude to the Japanese Government, who through JICA, has provided a grant of 4.357 Billion JPY (about US$39 Million) for this project.
The Project is expected to be completed in the next 18 months and will have a dedicated Substation that will supply power to the Central Business District (CBD) and its immediate environs and also relieve the Achimota and Mallam Bulk Supply Points (BSPs) from overloading. The focus on this District is because it is the highest electricity consuming location in Ghana, constituting about 30 per cent of total consumption in Greater Accra. Additionally, the load growth in the Business District is higher than the national average of 10 percent. The year-end projected demand of the Area is 1,400MVA.
The Minister assured all of Government’s resolve to revamp the Energy Sector for a brighter tomorrow.
On completion, electricity consumers in Accra Central and GRIDCo will directly reap benefits of the project. This is because, the Achimota, Mallam, Accra East, New Tema and Smelter II substations have been overloaded for far too long; serving Accra and its suburbs, which extend to as far as the Akwapim Mountains and a little beyond. Consequently, consumers experience low voltages and unreliable power supply, whilst GRIDCo incurs very high transmission losses. An outage at the Achimota substation, for instance, results in black out in many areas in Accra and beyond. This will soon be a thing of the Past!
PROJECT DESCRIPTION AND SCOPE
The project will extend the 161kV network into CBD, with the construction of a 161/34.5kV substation at the ECG Station E, located off the Graphic road in Central Accra. Some loads being currently served from the Achimota and Mallam Substations will be redistributed to be served from the New Substation. The capacity of the double circuit 161 kV line between the Achimota and Mallam Substations will be upgraded from double circuit 282 mmsq conductor line, each with a capacity of 170 MVA to a double circuit twin bundle 430 mmsq conductor line, each with capacity of 488 MVA.
Additionally, a substation control room, system protection, metering, SCADA and communication facilities will be constructed and provided.
ECG on the other hand, will decommission and replace the existing 34.5kV double circuit transmission line between Avenor and the ECG Project Office at Ring Road West with an underground cable.
Other dignitaries at the sod-cutting ceremony included, the Managing Director of ECG, Mr Samuel Boakye Appiah, the Japanese Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Naoto Nikai , Country Director and other Representatives of Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Chief Executives of Power Utilities, Consultants and Contractors.
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