General News of Friday, 31 August 2012

Source: Daily Guide

Load Shedding To Intensify

The load shedding exercise, which was suspended during the final funeral rites of former President John Evans Attah Mills, is to be intensified.

This follows an announcement by Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo) that technical problems at the West African Gas Pipeline were affecting gas supply to the Volta River Authority (VRA) and Sunon Asogli Power Plants.

As a result, GRIDCo said in a release that it had requested the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and the Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCO) to implement load shedding programmes in some parts of the country.

The release, signed by Albert Kwesi Quainoo, Head of Public Relations at GRIDCo, said power generation from VRA had declined while the Sunon Asogli Plants had been shut down.

He said engineers were working tirelessly to resolve the problem for normal power supplies to be restored as soon as possible.

The West African Gas Pipeline Company (WAPCo), operator of the pipeline, also issued a release through its Head of Corporate Affairs, Harriet Wereko-Brobby confirming the shut down.

“WAPCo has subsequently stopped all gas deliveries to its onshore stations and is working closely with government agencies and other relevant organisations to investigate the cause of loss of pressure and to ensure safety while rectifying the situation,” it said.

She said the system was experiencing a loss of pressure around the Lome segment of the pipeline.