GRIDCo constructs US$18.8m sub-station at Mim

The Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo) has constructed an ultra-modern sub-station with the capacity of two 33MVA transformers at Mim in the Brong Ahafo Region, estimated at US$18.8million, to boost electricity supply to the Ahafo area and the northern part of the Western Region.

The Mim sub-station, financed by a loan facility from the US Exim Bank, has improved a 63 kilometre 34kv transmission line from Sunyani to 161kv which hitherto was characterised by huge loses, thus creating erratic and mal-voltage in the vicinity.

The new facility has an additional bay to supply electricity from Mim to Juaboso in the Western Region, and the transmission project is ongoing. There are also installed capacitor banks meant to improve the quality of power supply within its catchment areas.

Conducting a team of journalists around the sub-station, Bernard Asante Gyan, Techiman Area GRIDCo Manager, said construction of the facility has given government the leeway to hook-up about additional 500 communities in Brong Ahafo and Western Regions onto the national grid under the rural electrification project.

He said: “The sub-station will not only enhance the quality and reliability of electricity to the area for domestic use, but also revive the status of Mim as an industry town in the Brong Ahafo Region. Industries in this town can now operate for 24 hours with reliable power supply”.

Mim once used to be a vibrant industrial town in the Brong Ahafo Region, but issues like erratic power supply have forced many out of business.

Companies including Mim Cashew Nuts Limited, Mim Scanstyle-furniture producing company, and Ayum Timber Products Limited are still in business and industrial players are optimistic that the new sub-station will truly help resolve the electricity problem there.