The CEO of the Bui Power Authority says the Authority had expected to record low water levels from the Dam this year after several indications last year.

Speaking to Elton John Brobbey in an interview, Fred Oware indicated that the low performance of the Dam to the provision of power supply in the country comes as no surprise.

“The water is gone down without any doubt whatsoever but this is not an unforeseen act. We knew this and last year when we submitted our supply plan, we indicated quite clearly that this year we will not be able to generate as much as we generated last year,” he said.

The Bui Dam expected to generate about 400 megawatts is presently producing 90 megawatts to support the national grid.

The country since the beginning of the year has recorded frequent interrupted power supply and according to some power supply providers, is attributed to technical challenges arising from power congestion.

According to the Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo) Systems Operation Director, the shutdown of the Bui Hydroelectric Power plant (which supplies electricity to central parts of Ghana) coupled with frequent interruption of gas supply has put a strain on the energy sector.

But Mr Fred Oware noted that although the Bui Dam has not produced its capacity as expected, it is still in operation. Hence reports from GRIDCo stating that Bui Dam has been shut down are false.

“Let me be bold enough and say that, I think GRIDCo has misled the Minister in making such a sad statement. Because as we sit here talking right now, Bui is in operation. We have three units which work at 133. It is not true," he explained.

He further noted that GRIDCo had been served a report on the challenges faced by the Authority in generating the needed capacity as of last year to find alternatives in addressing the shortcoming.

For Mr Fred Oware, the Authority cannot be held accountable for the recent intermittent power outages that have left many Ghanaians peeved and perturbed.

"So they [GRIDCo] should have looked at our supply plan and made alternative arrangements to fill in the gap but to say that there is dumsor because of Bui is quite misleading," he noted.

Meanwhile, the CEO of Bui Dam Authority has confirmed that the Authority has added 22 megawatts from its solar project onto the national grid to help fill in the needed capacity.

“We are on course and we are hopeful of achieving the target set [250 megawatts], indeed during the dry seasons when the water level is down we can then rely heavily on the solar panel to give us the power that we need and when in the season the hydro will come in” he added.