John Jinapor cutting the tape for the official opening of the Expo,Offering him support is the Turkish Ambassador to Ghana, Nesrin Bayazit (right) and the Acting Indian High Commissioner, P.K. Gupta (second left) while the President of the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) James Asare-Adjei (left) and others look on
Deputy Minister of Power, John Jinapor has assured Ghanaians that the shutdown of the Atuabo Gas Processing Plant on Wednesday, August 31 for mandatory maintenance would not lead to power outages across the country.
Mr. Jinapor gave the assurance yesterday at the opening ceremony of the maiden edition of the Powerelec Ghana 2016 Expo being held at the Ghana International Trade Fair Centre.
This was after he had reportedly told Joy FM in an interview that the shutdown of the plant may cause ‘dumsor’ in the country to counteract an assurance given by Chief Executive (CEO) of the Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo), William Amuna when the announcement was made on August 29.
Mr Amuna said the 10-day shutdown would not result in power outages, noting that plans had been put in place to increase intake from the Bui Power Plant to feed the grid.
But Mr. Jinapor in the report by JoyFm indicated that despite the available power production capacity, technical challenges may impede smooth power production.
He made a U-turn while addressing journalists on the sidelines of the three-day international tradeshow and conference on power generation and industrial electronics to showcase the potential of Ghana’s power sector.
According to him, engineers at the processing plants had indicated that power supply had normalized despite the shutdown of the Atuabo Gas Plant.
He urged Ghanaians to remain calm as technicians at the Atuabo Gas Plant go through the maintenance process.
“We hope that within a week’s time, the gas processing plant will be back on stream.”
The Ameri Plant and some thermal plants in the Takoradi enclave are down, he said.
‘Invest In Energy’
Jeen Joshua, CEO of Verifair, one of the organizers of the expo, in a statement, called on African states to increase their investments in the energy sector in order to boost economic growth.
He indicated that about 600 million residents in Sub-saharan Africa are without electricity, a development he said was posing threat to the future of children on the continent.
Expo
The Powerelec Ghana 2016 Expo, which is being held under the patronage of the Government of Ghana, brings together international suppliers from nine countries across the world.
The fair, which focuses on solar and other renewable energy sources, features official pavilions from India, Turkey, Egypt, Ghana and China, with over 100 exhibitors.
By Melvin Tarlue