The disruption of gas supply from Nigeria to Ghana under the West African Gas Pipeline project has caused an electricity generation crisis in Ghana as several areas have been plunged into darkness.
The state-owned Ghana Grid Company, which carries electricity from producer to the Electricity of Ghana, the distributor, says it reduced supply by 300 megawatts during the peak time on Tuesday.
Gas supply from Nigeria to the state-owned power producer, Volta River Authority (VRA), and the privately-owned Sunon Asogli Power Plant has dried up completely following “a technical problem”, says the Ministry of Energy.
“This has resulted in a reduction in power generation from VRA whilst the Sunon Asogli Power Plant has been completely shutdown.”
The Ministry says there will be load shedding in some parts of the country until the situation returns to normal.
“The understanding is that engineers of the West African Gas Pipeline Company are working tirelessly to restore normal supplies of gas.”
VRA, the main power producer, generates electricity from hydro and also thermal sources using gas and fuel.
GRIDCO sources say the fault on the pipeline has been traced to Togo.
The West African Gas Pipeline project involves Ghana, Togo and Benin receiving natural gas from Nigeria to produce electricity.
