The Minister for Energy and Green Transition, John Abdullai Jinapor, has announced that the country will experience a temporary power outage on Sunday, July 13, due to maintenance works by gas supplier ENI, which will involve shutting off its valves for rehabilitation.
The shutdown is part of ENI’s broader strategy to increase gas production to 270 million standard cubic feet per day (mm scfd), a move the Minister described as beneficial for the energy sector despite the short-term inconvenience it may cause.
Speaking at the ground-breaking ceremony for the reconstruction of the 161kV Anwomaso to Kumasi Transmission Line, Mr. Jinapor indicated that the planned shutdown would likely result in brief power interruptions during the day.
The Anwomaso to Kumasi Transmission Line project, which is jointly funded by the European Union and the Government of France, aims to resolve low voltage issues in Kumasi and the Dunkwa mining areas while addressing systemic inefficiencies in the power supply chain.
He emphasized that the maintenance activity was necessary and would ultimately serve the country’s energy needs.
The Minister explained that technical advice had informed the government’s decision not to run the affected plants on liquid fuel during the temporary shutdown. He noted that switching fuels would involve replacing nozzles and other complex processes, which would not be efficient for an interruption lasting only four to six hours.
He assured the public that measures were being put in place to minimize the adverse impact of the shutdown on power supply.
Mr. Jinapor also announced that ENI had made a new commercial oil discovery, adding that Tullow Oil had expressed intentions to inject additional investments into the upstream petroleum sector.
