The Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo) says the collapse of a communication mast on its 330-kilovolt Aboadze-Kumasi transmission line may result in some load management.
The incident happened on Tuesday, November, 9, 2021, close to Bogoso in the Western Region. Two adjacent towers belonging to GRIDCo were affected.
The Director of System Operation at GRIDCo, Mark Baah said the further assessment of the situation on Wednesday showed a third tower has been affected.
The incident according to GRIDCo may affect the power supply in the middle belt of the country during peak hours.
“This is a major transmission line from Aboadze to Kumasi. There was an earlier fault due to a storm on the 330kV line from Aboadze to Accra or the new Pokuase substation. The outages on these two lines caused challenges on this network and that resulted in power outages between Sunday evening and Monday morning. But those problems have been resolved. Unfortunately, yesterday evening, we noticed at the control centre that we had lost the Western line again. Eventually, our investigations show that a communication mast had collapsed on the line, pulling down some towers and destroying them.”
“Because this is a major line, one that helps us to evacuate power from Aboadze, with that line off, it reduces our ability to do so. We are however managing to get supply from other plants to ensure that we meet the demand. What is going to happen is that during peak times, voltages on the middle belt around Kumasi will be lower than expected. But we think that we can manage it to ensure that no bulk supply point goes off. If the voltages are going below levels that will lead to instability in the system, then around Kumasi and its environs we will need to manage the loads,” he added.
Mr. Baah also indicated that the fault is likely to be fixed within two weeks or more depending on the outcome of the assessment made.
This comes after Monday’s blackout, which affected most parts of the country.
Takoradi, Dansoman, Nima, Teshie, Tarkwa, and areas in the Bono Region reported outages on November 8, 2021.
GRIDCo blamed “significant disturbance” in its power systems as the cause of the widespread power outage.
It said its power generating units at Aboadze and Bui tripped, hence the incident.
It subsequently said the situation was rectified as of Tuesday, November 9, 2021, although it encountered a similar problem again minutes after it restored power at 4.30 am.
