The Minister of Energy and Green Transition, John Abdulai Jinapor, has revealed that about 1,000 electricity transformers across Ghana are experiencing overload, with the government working to replace and upgrade them nationwide.
Speaking on the floor of Parliament on March 16, the minister explained that the challenge formed part of the issues his office inherited and that steps are being taken to improve the country’s electricity distribution infrastructure.
“As I alluded to earlier, we have about 1,000 transformers across the country experiencing some overloads,” he said. “So far, when we inherited governance, the briefing I got showed that we needed to work on about 1,000 transformers. We’ve been working on them, and we’ve made significant progress.”
Mr Jinapor further announced that the next phase of the nationwide intervention will begin before the end of the month, following a competitive procurement process being undertaken by the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).
“Recently, I did announce that by the end of this month, based on the competitive process that ECG is going through, we would go into the second phase of mass-scale replacement of these transformers,” he noted.
He explained that the issue of overloaded transformers is also affecting communities within the Tarkwa-Nsuaem constituency, where some transformers are currently operating beyond their capacity.
“These are some of the challenges that the Tarkwa-Nsuaem constituency is experiencing, and so the main problem there has to do with some transformers that are experiencing overload,” he said.
However, the minister clarified that, contrary to some concerns, there is currently no damaged transformer awaiting replacement in Nsuem.
“While certain communities are experiencing these overloads, I just wish to clarify that the briefing I have indicates that currently there is no damaged transformer awaiting replacement in Nsuem,” he stated.
Instead, the ministry and ECG are focusing on expanding the capacity of the existing power infrastructure.
“What we are working on is to replace or add transformers to the current transformers,” he said, adding that the new installations will have significantly higher capacity to ensure long-term reliability.
“And this time we are adding much higher-capacity transformers so that they can stand the test of time for a long period,” he added.
The minister also disclosed that the only faulty transformer within the affected district is located at Nkwanta. He noted that customers served by the faulty facility have already been transferred to nearby functioning transformers to ensure an uninterrupted electricity supply.
“Affected customers have been temporarily transferred to adjacent healthy transformers to ensure continued service, and that is what we do,” he explained.
Mr Jinapor further revealed that 33 kilovolt (33kV) transformers required to ease the overload situation are currently being procured.
He assured Members of Parliament that once the transformers are delivered, priority would be given to constituencies facing the most pressing challenges.
Touching on the procurement approach, Mr Jinapor explained that the Managing Director of ECG opted for an open competitive process to determine a baseline price for the transformers.
According to the minister, the process will ensure transparency and also provide a reference point for future negotiations if other procurement methods are required.
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Source: www.myjoyonline.com