Mr Nsiah Benjamin, an energy policy analyst and executive director at the Centre for Environmental Management and Sustainable Energy, has challenged the Minister of Energy and Green Transition’s recent statements regarding Ghana’s power sector.
He stated that the export of surplus power is not a new development for the minister to highlight.
During a press briefing at the 7th Meeting of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) Regional Committee for the Africa Region, the Minister of Energy and Green Transition claimed that Ghana’s power supply system is now stable and that the country is exporting surplus energy.
Mr Nsiah Benjamin refuted this, asserting that while Ghana does export power, it is a long-standing practice governed by contractual agreements, not a recent novelty.
He explained that Ghana has long-term power supply agreements with three neighbouring countries: Burkina Faso, Togo, and Benin.
These contractual obligations have existed for years, and Ghana has continued to supply power to these nations even during times of domestic power shortages, known as “dumsor”.
He noted that records show Ghana exported over 2,000 megawatts of power last year alone to these countries under existing agreements.
Mr Nsiah Benjamin questioned the minister’s claim that the current exports are due to a genuine surplus.
He argued that fulfilling long-standing contractual obligations is not the same as having excess power beyond domestic needs.
He pressed for more specific data, stating that the public needs to know the quantity of the claimed surplus and whether it is a result of increased generation and available capacity or simply a temporary reduction in demand.
He further suggested that any current surplus might not be due to extraordinary government efforts.
Instead, it could be a temporary situation caused by recent favourable weather conditions that have reduced domestic power consumption, as individuals minimise the use of appliances like air conditioners.
“The records are there to show that you don’t need a surplus to export power, as these are contractual agreements we have had with these countries over the years. Breaching them would cause problems. So, if the minister had the opportunity to tell us that we have a stable supply and that the surplus is for exports, what is the quantity involved?
The projected export for this year was almost 2,000 megawatts of power to the countries with whom we have contractual agreements. So, if we are supposed to give them this power and we are doing so, is it because we are fulfilling our contractual obligation or because we have a surplus? The second point is whether we have a surplus because our generation, dependable capacity, and available capacity have all increased proportionately compared to our demand. That is what we need to know. We need to know if we have a surplus because our generation capacity has increased from 5,200 to 6,000 megawatts, or our available capacity of 4,200 has increased beyond peak demands. This information was not provided.”
Mr Benjamin concluded that without the specific data on generation and dependable capacity, the minister’s claims lack sufficient evidence.
”Those in the industry are aware that if there is a surplus, it’s not because you’ve done anything new; it’s because the weather has been favourable or it’s an act of God. Even if you don’t have a surplus, you have to supply these countries because of our contractual agreements with them. At one point, some suggested we stop supplying power to Burkina Faso, but some of us agreed that if we did, the Volta River Authority (VRA) would collapse because they pay VRA a higher rate compared to what we pay. And so, if we cannot stop, and you have assumed power and claim we have a surplus because you’ve done something extraordinary, then we need further and better details because we believe we have no surplus, as the minister claimed.”
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
