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The government has expressed concern about a potential energy sector crisis in the country, with Accra and its environs alone requiring around $1.2 billion of fuel cost for its predominantly thermal power plants.
Consequently, a committee set up by the Chief of Staff, Julius Debrah, under the instruction of President John Mahama has met with industry stakeholders to find a quick solution to the looming crisis.
The situation emerged less than 24 hours after the inauguration of President Mahama at the Black Star Square in Accra last Tuesday.
Government sources say there could be potential power outages in the energy sector due to the unavailability of liquid fuel to power thermal plants in Tema and planned maintenance on the West Africa Gas Pipeline (WAGP), which would affect gas supply for power generation.
The West African Gas Pipeline Company (WAPCO) had earlier announced plans to undertake mandatory maintenance on the offshore WAGP from January 20 to February 16, 2025.
However, Government Spokesperson, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, told the Daily Graphic in an interview that the scheduled maintenance work on the WAGP was supposed to be done in October last year but the then government postponed it to January 20 this year with the excuse that it needed time to procure fuel as an alternative means of powering the terminal plants in the absence of gas supply from the WAGP.
Mr Ofosu said although the outgone government, during the transition period promised to procure the fuel ahead of the planned maintenance work, the government only realised on Tuesday, after the swearing-in of President John Dramani Mahama, that the fuel was not purchased.
He said these challenges could lead to a significant loss of dependable capacity as Accra would require around $1.2 billion to purchase fuel for its predominantly thermal power plants.
“Mr Mahama asked specific questions regarding the implementation of the plan and was given firm assurances that everything was in order only for us to find out yesterday that they didn’t.
“So there was some dereliction of duty on the part of the outgone government,” he said.
During the maintenance period, WAPCO will carry out two key activities. First, the company will conduct pigging, a process that involves cleaning the pipeline to remove any debris or residue that may have accumulated.
Second, WAPCO will inspect and replace subsea valves, a crucial component of the pipeline's infrastructure. This work will help to ensure that the pipeline remains in good working condition and can continue to transport gas safely and reliably.
During the pigging operations, Gas supply to Togo, Benin and Tema will be temporarily shut down, while all gas from Nigeria will be redirected to Takoradi. Additionally, the reverse flow of gas from Takoradi to Tema will not be possible during this period.
Despite these adjustments, approximately 80-90 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd) of gas is expected to be delivered at Takoradi.
The Director of System Operations at the Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCO), Frank Okyere, who briefed government officials, including the Chief of Staff and the Executive Secretary to the President, Dr Calistus Mahama, on the current situation in the energy sector, said to minimise disruptions, several planned generator shutdowns would be rescheduled outside the pigging period.
These include routine maintenance at Kpong Generating Station's Unit 2, originally set for January 20-26, 2025. At the TICo power plant, Unit 1's maintenance, previously scheduled for February 6-9, 2025, and Unit 2's maintenance, initially set for February 13-16, 2025, will also be rescheduled.
The pigging operations on the WAGP are expected to significantly impact the supply of gas in Tema. Normally, a total of 180 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd) of gas is consumed by six major thermal plants in Tema, including Sunon Asogli, Cenpower, KTPP, TT IPP, AKSA, and Bridge Power.
However, during the pigging period, the WAGP lateral in Tema will be closed, resulting in a complete shutdown of gas supply to these thermal plants. This disruption is likely to have far-reaching consequences for power generation.
With regard to Takoradi and Kumasi, typically, the region consumes around 335 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd) of gas, with the majority (230 mmscfd) being used by power plants such as TAPCo, TICo, Karpower and Twin City.
However, with domestic gas production in the West sufficient to meet demand, the 80-90 mmscfd of gas expected to be delivered at Takoradi from Nigeria will be more than what can be consumed.
As a result, gas production from ENI (245 mmscfd) and Tullow (100 mmscfd) will need to be reduced to avoid oversupply.
This reduction in domestic gas production will be necessary to balance the excess gas from Nigeria, ensuring that the region's gas supply remains stable and efficient.
Meanwhile, liquid fuel stocks for these plants are inadequate as the outgone government failed to procure fuel as an alternative to the envisaged shortage of gas supply due to the planned maintenance on the WAGP.
As of Wednesday, January 8, 2025, the available fuel stocks painted a dire picture. At the Cenpower plant, 260,468 litres of LEO fuel were available, sufficient to power two units for approximately 23 days.
However, the situation is even more precarious at the Sunon Asogli plant, where only 1,275 megawatts of DFO fuel are in stock, enough to power one unit for less than two days.
Meanwhile, the AKSA plant has 440 megawatts of HFO fuel, which can sustain seven units for six hours only.
