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| Akosombo Dam Will Not Shut Down |
7/16/2007 |
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The Volta River Authority (VRA) has dispelled media speculations that it will shut down its plants this week. The Director of Hydro at the VRA, Kirk Coffie, maintained that although the water level in the Akosombo dam was still critically low, it did not yet warrant a shutdown."We are presently running two out of the six turbines and although we wish we could run more, the water level at 235.16 feet, as of Friday, cannot support the extra four," he said.
Since August last year, the country''s major source of electrical power has suffered a severe set back as a result of the drastic drop in the water level of the dam, the main source of hydro power for the country.Mr Coffie said the authority had had to rely heavily on the importation of crude oil to power the thermal plants at Aboadze, the cost of which was becoming increasingly unbearable.
The situation has forced the VRA to reduce the power supplied to the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG),hence the nation wide power rationing exercise to avert a total collapse.The government, on its part, is putting in place short-term measures, including the installation of power generating plants in Tema and Kumasi, to generate more than 500 megawatts of energy to make up for the shortfall of about 400 megawatts.
Mr Coffie said Ghana was not suffering from drought, adding that "once we are in the rainy season, there is much hope that the rains will come for the level of water in the dam to rise".
Until last Friday, reports indicated that the water level had been reducing at an average of about 0.2 feet daily. When asked what the outcome would be in the event of no rains in the northern part of the country this week, Mr Coffie responded, "We pray it will not happen.
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