THE Volta River Authority (VRA) has taken delivery of a transformer valued at $600,000 to improve upon the quality of its services to customers.

The 66 Mega Volt Amps (MVA) power transformer, which will be installed at the Tema Substation, is expected to increase the load from 100 to 166 MVA.

The Director for Transmission Systems of the VRA, Mr Joe Wiafe, who announced this when he conducted newsmen round the transformer at the substation in Tema yesterday, said the installation of the transformer will be completed by the end of this month.

He said in addition, the VRA has also installed a Strategic Reserve Plant (SRP) to generate 110 megawatts of power to support the Akosombo Hydro Electric Plant in the event of any fall in the minimum operating level of the dam.

Mr Wiafe explained that these moves are in line with the company?s plan to ensure that there is adequate power supply in the country.

He said it is expected that after the installation of the transformer, the problem of power outages in the Greater Accra Region in general and Tema in particular will be a thing of the past.

Mr Wiafe said the new transformer, which has the capacity to augment power supply, will enable the VRA to contain any load increase in the future. He said it will also enable the VRA to embark on any maintenance work on transformers at the substation without any power interruption.

Mr Wiafe said that the transformer is being installed in Tema because of pressure on the substation to generate power for the whole of Tema, including the industries as well as the proposed export processing zone.

He said the transformer which is being installed by engineers of the VRA, has saved the authority $10,000. He said the transformer has a life span of about 30 years, if properly maintained.

Mr Wiafe said the VRA is adopting adequate measures to ensure that quality service is provided the people. He, therefore, appealed to the public to fulfil their obligation of paying the realistic price for power.