Bui supports national grid despite challenges
The Bui Hydroelectric power plant generates between 200MW and 360MW of power to augment electricity supply during peak periods.
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It also generates on the average 112MW of power during off-peak periods as a way of sustaining the plant which has a total production capacity of 400MW.
The current water level of the dam is 173.90 metres while its maximum level is 183 metres.
The External and Community Relations Manager of the Bui Power Authority (BPA), Mr Wumbilla Salifu, disclosed this when he conducted some journalists around the facility.
Illegal mining
During the tour, it came to light that some illegal miners were operating close to the dam posing serious threat to the facility.
“Because the galamsey activities are taking place within our acquired lands and not too far from the reservoir, whenever we have rains, all the loose soil particles that have been excavated by the ‘galamseyers’ will be washed into the reservoir,” Mr Salifu warned.
He said the National Security Secretariat had deployed security men to Banda Nkwanta to help curb the galamsey menace.
Game changer
Mr Salifu told the journalists that the Bui Generating Station (BGS) was not the “game changer” to solve the country’s energy crisis.
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According to him, the BGS was not the magic wand that would solve the country's energy problems but designed to augment the power supply of the existing hydro stations.
Debunking assertions that the dam had been shut down in view of its low water level, he explained that the Bui Dam was constructed to produce power only during the peak periods in the evenings and shut down its operations during the day.
Alluding to the fact that the Bui plant depended on the amount of water in the reservoir, Mr Salifu said energy generation from the plant also relied on rainfall in the catchment area and that “the water must be managed well during the dry season till the following rainy season”.