Despite recent improvements in power generation following the recovery of the fourth unit at the Akosombo hydro power, parts of the country continue to experience outages, raising concerns among consumers about the effectiveness of ongoing interventions.
A Senior Research and Policy Analyst at the Institute for Energy Security, Xatse Derick Emmanuel, says the situation reflects deeper structural challenges within Ghana’s power system—not just generation levels.
Speaking in an interview on JoyNews’ The Pulse on Wednesday, April 29, he acknowledged that the restoration of multiple generation units has led to a steady increase in output. However, he cautioned against assuming that higher generation automatically translates into a stable electricity supply nationwide.
“If you compare current generation levels to what we had a few days ago, there is clearly an improvement,” he noted. “But that alone does not guarantee that every area will have uninterrupted power.”
According to him, electricity generation must always be balanced with demand and the transmission system’s capacity to carry and distribute power effectively—commonly referred to as the grid.
“Power is not something you just produce in excess and store. It must correspond with what the system can contain and what consumers demand at any given time.”
He warned that generating more power than the grid can handle could lead to serious technical issues, including voltage instability and system trips, which could trigger even wider outages.
“If the system cannot evacuate the power generated, you risk damaging equipment or causing system-wide disruptions,” he said.
His remarks come at a time when the Electricity Company of Ghana has released new outage schedules, with more areas expected to experience interruptions despite improvements at key generation plants.
While recent figures suggest generation has exceeded 4,000 megawatts at certain times, the analyst stressed that the real issue lies in whether the transmission infrastructure can handle and distribute that power efficiently.
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Source: www.myjoyonline.com