General News of Tuesday, 3 February 2015

Source: tv3network.com

All units of Bui working, insists PRO

Contrary to reports that the Bui Hydroelectric Dam has been out of operation and thus contributing to the worsening of the power crisis in the country, the Bui Power Authority says all of its three units are working.

“The only challenge is that the water within the reservoir is not so much,” said Salifu Wubila, the Head of Communications of the Authority.

He was speaking on TV3’s Midday Live on Monday, February 2.

Mr Wubila said though the dam was built to operate at 400-megawatt (MW) capacity, it is currently operating at 220MW as a result of the low level of water in the reservoir.

Meanwhile, Minister of Power Dr Kwabena Donkor says the Bui dam has invariably saved the crisis from worsening further.

“Bui presently serves as our emergency reserve. Ideally, Bui will not operate any unit during off-peak and then will operate two units during peak,” he observed at a meeting of journalists on Monday, February 2.

“Because of the circumstances in which we find ourselves, Bui runs one unit during off-peak, sometimes two units and then during peak, sometimes Bui is forced to run three units, so Bui serves as a critical emergency reserve for us.”

He has assured that measures put in place by government will see the end of the loadshedding this year.