The Volta River Authority (VRA) on Thursday spiked press reports of an imminent national power crisis saying it was not anticipating any crisis this year.

It said though the last rains were lower than expected, resulting in a lower than expected level of water in the Akosombo Reservoir, the lower than expected inflow into the Volta Lake would not affect power supply because the thermal generation sources can fully complement the hydro supply to meet the load demand.

This was contained in a statement signed by Mrs Ellen Essilfie, Director of Public Affairs of VRA, in reaction to recent media publications, which, it said, "seeks to create an unwarranted alarming impression of a looming national power crisis."

It said: "The estimated total demand for 2002 is 8,575GWh, out of which our hydro sources will provide about 4,950GWh (58 per cent), while thermal sources and import will provide the remaining 3,625GWh (42 per cent).

"This is a significant increase in thermal power generation compared to 2001, when the total demand was met from 79 per cent hydro and 21 per cent thermal."

It said what changes when the water level is low is the proportion of generation from hydro and thermal sources in the total generation mix. "Even if the Volta Lake was at its maximum of 278ft, the Akosombo and Kpong dams together cannot meet the total national energy requirement."

It said in contrast to the situation in 1997 power crisis, there was sufficient thermal generation capacity at Takoradi of 550MW to meet the projected thermal energy supply for 2002.

"However to do so will require about 180 million dollars for crude oil purchases. This huge foreign exchange component will naturally translate into higher costs of generation, which has to be paid for by the consumer."

The VRA said the Retrofitting Project, which started in 1999 would end by 2004, during which all six generating units would have been retrofitted.