The acting Managing Director of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) Ing Samuel Boakye-Appiah has said that the power distributor has invested in excess of GH¢200 million to replace some of its out-of-date equipment.
The move, according to him, was to ensure that power losses resulting from the use of the said equipment are minimized. He said the equipment replaced are as old as 40 years.
“We have replaced all the obsolete equipment in Accra and Tema operational areas. The most recent being the replacement of our bulk supply point at Achimota where we completely replaced the 33kv board that serves and supplies power to most eastern part of Accra.
“Recently, we inaugurated a newly-constructed sub-station at Hohoe in the Volta region, which replaced an existing 40-year-old sub-station. So, this is an on-going project that we are implementing – and I can say that to a large extent most of the major obsolete equipment has been replaced,” Boakye-Appiah told journalists on the sidelines of the fourth ECG engineers’ forum recently.
“You will agree with me that technology is advancing, and as we step forward there will still be the need for us to bring ourselves to the newest and latest technologies to make sure that we are operating within the industry standards,” he added.
He said more than US$50 million has been spent on the equipment replacement programme, which commenced about a year ago. The impact of the exercise, he added, was almost immediate.
He continued “It is now safe for our workers to operate this new equipment. Also, it has improved system reliability. You will agree with me that over the past six months, the power supply has been very, very stable; and all these measures are part of it.
“Talking about system losses, the new equipment can detect leakages in the system and all those leakages have been removed; and generally the construction of additional lines and substations have also improved the network reliability. So, to a large extent, these measures have reduced technical loses in the system.”
Source: Ghana/Starrfmonline.com/103.5FM
