Power to the People

When the massive Akosombo dam was completed on the Volta River in northern Ghana in 1966 it created the world's largest man-made lake, measuring 6,000 square miles.

The dam, 124 metres high and 368 metres wide, promised access to more hydroelectric power than Ghana could ever need. At the time no one could have imagined that a series of lengthy droughts, particularly in 1983 and 1998, would reduce the lake's capacity to half its original size and create a desperate shortage of electricity.

Now, however, with the support of the World Bank, the generating units at Akosombo hydroelectric power station are being given an $18 million upgrade that will, within five years, boost the installed capacity of 912 megawatts by 15 per cent. The Volta River Authority, which operates the Akosombo, is not stopping there and has ambitious plans for a further 17 potential hydroelectric projects.

"The problem is not the capacity," says Gilbert Dokyi, the VRA's managing director. "It is the price of oil. Last year, at this time, the oil price was about US$10 per barrel. Today we are talking about $30 a barrel."

In addition to increasing the output from Akosombo, the VRA is in the process of generating a further 660 megawatts at its thermal power plant in the port city of Takoradi. Some 110 megawatts has just come on stream. The VRA is in discussion with a consortium, led by Brown & Root from the UK, to construct a 400 megawatt plant at Bui in the next eight years and is confident that by 2002 it will be producing more than enough power to meet demand.

'Seventy per cent of the population has no electricity.
We need more energy'

"Almost every two years we add on about 100 megawatts. This is consistent with the level of supply of energy required to support the economic growth targets," says Mr Dokyi.

The Government is helping to drive these initiatives along by encouraging private sector participation in the generation and distribution of electricity and the supply, transportation and distribution of natural gas.

Two regulatory bodies have been set up to oversee private participation. The Public Utilities Regulatory Commission, which has representation from the industry and the public sector, sets electricity tariffs. The Energy Commission regulates sector participants to ensure quality of service and competition.

The background to these energy initiatives is summed up by John Abu, the Minister of Mines and Energy. He says: "Seventy per cent of the population still does not have electricity and we desperately need more energy. We want to encourage private investment from independent power producers and obtain as much electricity from thermal power as from hydroelectric power within the next five years."

Under a national electrification scheme, the Government is committed to providing electricity to most of the population during the next 30 years by extending the transmission grid to small town and rural communities. In addition to this, a self-help electrification programme will connect villages and towns within 12 miles of the national grid, provided they contribute material and labour.

In 1992, 31 of the 110 district capitals were without any form of electricity supply while five enjoyed only limited supply from disel generating sets. Today all the district capitals and towns and villages along the route of supply have been connected to the electricity grid and there are plans to connect 567 villages and comunities to the grid by the end of the year.

Ghana is also expecting to benefit soon from the West African Gas Pipeline project in which a 600 miles offshore pipeline from Escravos in the Niger Delta will supply Ghana, Benin and Togo. The capital cost is expected to be around $400 million and the project is due to be completed in two years.

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