Seth OsabukleThe Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo) yesterday re-assured of its commitment to support government’s vision of making Ghana a net exporter of power by the year 2020.
Speaking at the seventh Annual General Meeting (AGM), Chief Executive of GRIDCo, Mr. William Amuna, said the strategic plan for producing 5,000 megawatts of power in the next four years was steadily on course.
“We look forward to the future with hope and determination,’’he stressed, explaining that GRIDCo was undertaking a number of projects to strengthen the transmission grid in order to enhance its capacity and efficiency to transmit additional power for export.
Mr. Amuna mentioned some of the project as the construction of additional lines and upgrading of National Interconnected Transmission Systems (NITS) and replacement of obsolete equipment with modern and more effective ones.
According to Mr. Amuna, the company’s initiatives had helped in reducing transmission losses from 4.32 per cent in 2014 to 3.79 per cent in 2015. Mr. Amuna said the intervention by government to procure the 225 MW Karpower barge and to integrate the Ameri Plant into the generation capacity of the country helped to increase power transmitted to homes and offices and ultimately addressed the energy challenges.
He stated that the company achieved a remarkable success in 2015 recording a profit of over 200 per cent compared to that of 2014. He said the company’s total earnings for 2015 was GHc472.345 million with a net profit of Hc44.797 as against a net loss of GHc41.50 million in 2014.
Mr. Amuna attributed the achievement to the transmission of power, which increased significantly due to the construction of additional kilovolts lines after the installation and connection of Karpower and Ameri plant installations to the national grid as well as the dedication and hard work of staff and management of the company.
He added that the Ghana section of the Ghana-Togo-Benin interconnection segment of the 330k West African power pool (WAPP) coastal backbone lines was completed to enhance the supply of power. “In spite of several constraints such as shortfall in power supply, high receivables from Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), and Volta Aluminum Company (VALCO), GRIDCo doubled efforts to make its transmission system robust with additional transmission lines,” Mr. Amuna said.
The Board Chairman of GRIDCo, Alhaji Huudu Yahaya, said the transmission utility would continue to work in providing adequate infrastructure required for the evacuation of anticipated growth in power generation in the coming years.
He said: “The undercapitalisation of the company, the cost of financing and directives on the various financial requirements placed the company in a vulnerable position that needed to be addressed”.
Alhaji Yahaya stressed that government’s efforts at addressing the liquidity problems in the power sector utilities would release funds for GRIDCO to execute projects that would make the national transmission system robust and improve the reliability of power supply.
According to him, the indebtedness of major customers to the company, such as the ECG increased significantly in 2015, a situation that worsened the financial state of the company as well as shortfall of power supply. The Deputy Minister of Power, Mr. John Jinapor, commended the staff and management of the company on their success, and urged them to concentrate more on the vision of the government to make the country an energy exporter.
He said government has decided to adopt energy sector wide approach in dealing with its debt by consolidating the debts owed by power institutions in the power chain value by making frantic efforts to clear them.
That, he said, would be achieved by establishing a cash waterfall payment system that would enhance revenue mobilisation and ensure even distribution of profit
By Charles Amankwa and Benedicta Ampadu Okyere