The substation being commissioned
The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has commissioned a three-point four million dollar newly upgraded 40MVA primary substation at Hohoe in the Volta Region to improve on power supply to residents of the area and its environs.
The facility which has two units of 20 MVA transformers replaces the old 10 MVA transformer.
The upgrade in the old substation will result in the provision of more power to address the low voltage challenges that have been affecting customers in the area.
The facility also has enough room for future expansions and in the event of any major challenge with one of the transformers, customers will be quickly transferred onto the other while the problem is rectified.
The Managing Director of ECG, Ing. Samuel Boakye-Appiah in his keynote address during the commissioning of the substation announced that the Company is currently undertaking various network infrastructure projects in the Volta Region, to the tune of $40 million.
According to him, funding for these projects is secured from Internally Generated Funds (IGFs), and some Strategic Donor Partners of the Company.
“The electrical network interventions are generally aimed at meeting ECG’s corporate strategic objectives of improving system reliability, improving customer service delivery, reducing system losses and improving network operational efficiency in the Volta Region”, Ing. Boakye-Appiah said.
He mentioned the construction of primary substations and switching stations; construction of 33/11KV network lines; network extensions and intensification, as well as 33/11KV network upgrade and expansion to various communities as some of the infrastructure projects initiated in the region.
The Volta Regional Manager of ECG, Ing. Joseph Forson re-echoed the benefits of the various projects on the life of consumers in the beneficiary communities.
He said customers who hitherto could not operate their corn mills and other motors may now do so since the single-phase networks which were constructed in these areas are being upgraded to three-phase.
He added that the capacity of transformers in some communities have also been increased to resolve reported cases of low voltage experienced during peak periods.
The Volta Regional Minister, Dr. Archibald Letsa commended ECG for the enormous investment and expressed the hope that the ongoing projects will fully resolve customer complaints of low voltage and frequent outages in parts of the region.
The Paramount Chief of the Gbi Traditional Area, Togbega Gabusu VI called on corporate institutions to offer employment quotas to Traditional Councils in areas they operate.
This, he said, will enable chiefs solve the problem of youth unemployment in their areas.
From Gibril Abdul Razak, Ho. (gbabdulrazak@gmail.com)