The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Grid Company (GRIDco), William Amuna, says the country’s power system may collapse entirely if the current power rationing is not managed properly.

GRIDco, the power transmitter, has announced it will shut down all thermal plants by close of day (Thursday) due to unavailability of gas supply from Nigeria. The thermal plants -Asogli plant, Mines Reserve Plant, Finesse plant all in Tema and T3 in Aboadze- produce a total of 300 megawatts of electricity.

They solely depend on gas to generate power but an industrial action in Nigeria means Ghana will not have the gas to power its plants.   

Compelled by the development, the Electricity Company of Ghana, the distributor announced Wednesday, it will shed about 500 megawatts of electricity supplied to consumers until things normalise. A detailed schedule for the load shedding which is deemed unprecedented, is expected to be published Friday.

Speaking on Joy FM's Super Morning Show, Mr. Amuna said the power crisis could get worse if the ECG fails to properly manage the exercise.

“What is going to happen is that if ECG is not able to do that, we could collapse the power system,” the GRIDco Chief dreaded.

He however, said the situation could improve if the labour unrest in the exporting country is resolved in the shortest possible time for the supply to be restored.

“We are also hoping that this [shortage] will be a short-lived problem from Nigeria and if they are able to restore the gas supply then things will improve significantly,” he stated.  

Mr. Amuna has requested the public to “practice proper demand side management” to save more power. “If we do this we could save between 60-100 megawatts through demand side management”.

The Executive Director of Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), Mohammed Amin Adams, says the country’s energy problems have become persistent “because most of the plants are undergoing maintenance and repairs”.

But he believes the challenge could be minimized significantly if the Atuabo Gas Plant fully comes on stream.  

"If we have the Atuabo gas, it will not solve the problem completely but it will reduce the hardship significantly,” Mr. Amin Adams said.