The growing demand of electricity in Ghana is between 10% and 12% per annum. This is mainly as a result of population and economic growth. This coupled with inadequate gas supply to power thermal plants and the inability to supply electricity from hydro sources due to poor rainfall patterns, affected power generation which led to load shedding exercises, particularly in 1983/4, 1994, 1998, 2006/7 and 2012-2015.
In view of this, President Mahama worked hard toward fixing this perennial headache for good. And this was how he did it. The following projects were executed which added 845 MW of generation capacity by the close of 2016:
The 110 MW steam component of the T2 Power Plant at Aboadze, 225 MW Karpower Barge, 250 MW Ameri Power Plant, 220 MW Kpone Thermal Power Plant, 2 MW Solar Power Plant at Navrongo, 38 MW TPP Plant, 110 MW TEI Plant and the 186 MW T4 Power Plant at Aboadze.
These interventions gave a sigh of relief to the people of Ghana, considering the critical role electricity plays in our industries, offices, households, and its general impact on the economy of the nation.
Records show that this perennial power crisis rear its ugly head at least four years on the average. Interestingly, this menace has not shown up six years since it was fixed, an indication of a permanent solution.
Anthony Obeng Afrane
