The new government will require a total of $89.90 million to procure liquid fuel in the absence of natural gas.

This is necessary to enable electricity power generation companies in the country to produce adequate power for consumption.

The West Africa Gas Pipeline Company (WAGP), which supplies natural gas to the country, is scheduled to undergo a major maintenance work, known as pigging, and will be unable to supply gas to Ghana for nearly one month.

In a statement issued by the Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo), the maintenance of the gas pipelines from Nigeria to Ghana by WAGP was initially set to take place in October 2024. However, the previous government postponed the maintenance to January 2025.

According to GRIDCo, if WAGP proceeds with the maintenance, the country will face a severe power crisis, resulting in frequent power outages, commonly referred to as dumsor, as the power producers do not have sufficient liquid fuel to generate more electricity.

“There is a deficit in generation capacity during the period of the WAPCO pigging exercise. Therefore, it is necessary to procure liquid fuel to operate thermal plants in Tema to meet demand,” GRIDCo stated.

To prevent the looming dumsor, GRIDCo highlighted that the government will need “a total of US$ 89.90 million to purchase liquid fuel for running thermal plants and meet demand during the maintenance period.”

It is also recommended that “efforts be made to coordinate ENI and Tullow gas production during the maintenance period, to effect necessary reductions in their gas production volumes. This will accommodate the 80-90 mmscf of gas expected to be delivered from Nigeria via WAGP.”

For adequate generation capacity during the maintenance period, GRIDCo stressed the need to procure the necessary quantities of liquid fuel for operating the Cenpower, Asogli, AKSA, and KTPP plants.

Further recommendations include securing additional generation resources with a dependable capacity of at least 244.66 MW by the last quarter of 2025, as well as securing an additional 129 mmcfd of natural gas supply (or equivalent volumes of liquid fuels) to fire thermal generation and meet the projected demand.

Meanwhile, the new government has already initiated steps to address the looming crisis by engaging in meetings with various power sector stakeholders.

The emergency meeting which was concluded today, Wednesday, has been tasked to come up with a roadmap by close of day today to address the challenge.