The Minister for Energy and Green Transition, Dr. John Abdulai Jinapor, has engaged the media in Kumasi on the Ahodwo to Anwomaso (K1-K2)161kV Transmission Line upgrade works. Prior to the engagement, the Chief Executive of GRIDCo, Ing. Frank Otchere briefed Dr. Jinapor on the progress of the transmission line upgrade works and the transformer capacity upgrade works, which are ongoing at the Kumasi Substation at Nhyiaeso.
With reference to the K1-K2 project, Ing. Otchere informed the Minister that fifty-six (56) out of the sixty (60) towers have been assembled, with the assembling of the remaining four (4) ongoing. The next phase of the project is stringing of the transmission lines. Ing. Otchere explained that the stringing stage will require outages to ensure the engineers work safely and on time. The Chief Executive added that the transformer capacity upgrade works are also going as scheduled. “GRIDCo is upgrading the transformer capacity at Nhyiaeso from 300MW to 1000MW, more than three times its current capacity”, he said.
During a media briefing the Minister emphasised the importance of these two (2) critical projects. Dr. Jinapor stressed the need to embark on the projects to improve on power supply in the Ashanti Region, to satisfy the growth in electricity demand in the region. “We cannot postpone such upgrade works forever” he noted. He added that even though such upgrade results in power outages, “It is important we all sacrifice for such difficult decisions to bring about system improvements,” he urged.
The Minister indicated that executing the transmission line upgrade works will impact the supply of power. Thus, he appealed to residents of Ashanti Region to be patient, as efforts are being made to ensure that, the contractor works within schedule. The work is originally planned for six (6) months, but the Minister explained. “I have however impressed upon the Contractor to compress the time into three (3) months by working with multiple gangs who will run shift” Dr. Jinapor stated. He charged GRIDCo and ECG to plan the outages in a systematic manner and inform the public ahead of time, ensuring that business activities will not be disrupted for a long time. “We want to do what is right and proper,” he noted.
The Minister commended GRIDCo for the good work done so far. He encouraged the Chief Executive and his team to complete the project on time, to mitigate the inconveniences brought on by power interruption.
Also in attendance during the engagement were the ECG Deputy Managing Director for Engineering and Operations, Ing. Kwadwo Ayensu Obeng and his team.
