Kasoa power substation to be completed August
The Minister of Energy, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, has inspected work on the bulk power supply point substation currently being constructed at Kasoa in the Central Region to improve power supply in and around the town.
Sixty per cent of construction work has so far been done on the $50-million gas insulated switchgear (GIS) substation, with engineers assuring the minister that the infrastructure will be ready by the end of August this year.
Dr Prempeh was accompanied by the Minister of Information, Mr Kojo Oppong Nkrumah; the Managing Director of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), Mr Kwame Agyeman-Budu, and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo), Mr Jonathan Amoako-Baah.
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Project
The 435 megawatts (MW) project is the second largest bulk supply point in the country, after the 580MW infrastructure at Pokuase, which is also currently being constructed.
The main difference between the two is that the Pokuase substation is air insulated, while the Kasoa substation is gas insulated.
The Kasoa substation is to address low voltage and frequent power outages caused by increasing domestic and industrial demand in Kasoa and its environs, including Senya Bereku, Bawjiase and Nyanyano.
It is being funded by the Millennium Development Authority (MiDA) under the Ghana Power Compact programme and is expected to benefit 241,508 customers of the ECG and contribute to a substantial reduction in transmission losses in GRIDCo’s transmission system.
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Equipment
The CEO of the MiDA, Mr Martin Eson-Benjamin, said some few civil works still remained to be sorted.
He noted that new equipment that would improve and sustain power was being installed at the substation to ensure reliable power supply to customers.
“So this is a very timely intervention, and I do believe that when we finish, Ghanaians will understand us. The money that we took from the Americans is being put to good use,” he said.
Dr Prempeh said financial and other resources were being provided to ensure that the country tackled the current intermittent power challenges.
“We were at GRIDCo three weeks ago; we were at Pokuase and today we are in Kasoa. Such system improvement is going on in parts of the country,” he said.
“We ask for cooperation, understanding, education and information through your various portals and platforms,” he told the media.
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Reliable supply
Mr Agyeman-Budu said the Ministry of Energy was doing everything possible to make sure the country’s power sector was sustainable and provided reliable services for customers.
“We are grateful to MiDA for this support. There is also an additional static synchronous compensator (statcom) transformer to provide additional support in case of an emergency,” he said.
Mr Amoako-Baah for his part,said the current low voltage being experienced in Kasoa was attributable to population increase in the area, which received power supply from Winneba and Mallam in Accra, and gave an assurance that the situation would change with the completion of the project.