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Tamale, Ghana – The Northern Electricity Company (NEDCo) of the Volta River Authority (VRA) has hinted that, it intends to fully install the breakers that got burned last November by June this year.
According to Management of NEDCo, the full installation of the breakers would eventually ensure stable and reliable power supply to the Tamale Metropolis and its surrounding communities.
Head of Corporate Communications of NEDCo, Mr. Maxwell Kotoka said this in a statement issued to the media in Tamale.
Below is the full statement:
RESTORATION OF STABLE POWER SUPPLY TO THE TAMALE METROPOLIS
The Management of NEDCo is pleased to announce that since 1517 hours on Monday, February 12, 2018, it has managed to restore stable power supply to the Tamale Metropolis following some herculean challenges it had suffered in doing so over the preceding week or so.
BACKGROUND:
It would be recalled that on November 20, 2017, we lost all the breakers through which our customers on the 11.Skv are served in the Tamale metropolis to a fire outbreak. Virtually, the whole of Tamale was consequently plunged into darkness. With support from allies like the Hon. Minister for Energy, the Northern Regional Minister, the Minister for Roads and Highways, the Tamale Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE), the Presiding Member and Hon Members of the Tamale Metropolitan Assembly, the Ghana Highway Authority, Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo), Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), various local contractors, the media and of course, the Chiefs and good people of Tamale, we were able to restore stable power to all affected areas by 0130 hours on Friday, November 24, 2017.
We however were at pains to explain that whatever we had put in place was a temporary arrangement pending the full and permanent replacement of the burnt equipment which would take some reasonable length of time to do. This is so because the said equipment are not off-the-shelf items so they have to be ordered on specification and produced from start to finish based on the orders. We went on to add that since the arrangements were temporary, they would come with their own challenges but we would be on the alert to deal with them as and when they occurred. Power supply had been fairly stable since then until February 04, 2018 when some of the under-ground cables temporarily laid gave in.
RECENT CHALLENGES:
A thorough diagnostics of the problem revealed that the challenges were two-fold: excessive load on the cables and the need to balance the load more appropriately on the two main transformers. Immediately, however, the solution was to repair the burnt cables and to manage the load on them while working to replace them with bigger capacity ones. This was duly communicated to our Stakeholders and customers using various media including but not limited to telephone calls, various WhatsApp Platforms and FM Radio stations in Tamale (this was so because some parts of town were without power).
Hardly had this challenge been overcome than another occurred which also culminated in a different stretch of the under-ground cables getting burnt thereby plunging a significant part of town into darkness again. While this new challenge was being addressed, bigger capacity cables were secured to be used to replace the original ones. By Thursday, February 8, 2018, the cables had arrived in Tamale from Accra so they were quickly prepared and laid on Friday, February 09, 2018 and Saturday, February 10, 2018. This was followed by a planned outage to the entire Tamale Metropolis to enable us connect the new cables. This planned outage regrettably, also caused some further inconvenience and frustration for our customers but it was intended for good outcomes.
With the cables replaced, we needed to observe the situation further so that night, it became obvious that there was the need to conduct some load balancing on the main transformers. Since this could not be done immediately, it necessitated some unannounced outages again. The next day however, we quickly arranged a planned outage to enable us do the required load balancing and harmonization.
RESTORATION OF STABLE POWER:
Since the completion of that balancing at 1517 hours on Monday, February 12, 2018, we are pleased to formally report that the challenges have surfaced no more! We must however concede that this does not preclude the occurrence of localized faults in the various communities. We assure the general public that as usual, these would be addressed as and when they get to our notice.
PERMANENT SOLUTION:
As has been alluded to earlier, the permanent solution to the challenges is the full replacement of all the equipment. Currently, the equipment have been secured and installation has started. It is our anticipation that installation works should be completed and commissioning done by June, 2018. We are working assiduously towards this date so we appeal for maximum cooperation and understanding from the General Public.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:
We wish to use this opportunity to salute the patience, tolerance and understanding of our cherished customers who have had to suffer untold inconveniences and frustrations during the period. We apologise unreservedly to them while assuring them that we shall continue to remain on the alert to ensure that all challenges are met with expeditious responses .
Maxwell Kotoka
MANAGER,
CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS-NEDCo
By Savannahnews
