By Mohammed Balu
Tumu, (UWR), March 22, GNA – Dr. Sarfic Suleman, the Executive Secretary of the Public Utility Regulatory Commission (PURC), has urged industrialists to take advantage of the excess electricity available at the Tumu substation to establish industries in the area.
He said this during a working visit to the Upper West Region and later to the Ghana Grid Company Limited (Gridco) substation at Tumu to familiarise himself with the operations in the area.
Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Tumu, Dr. Suleman said, “I spent some time at the Tumu Gridco Substation to understand the long-distance electricity transmission network in Ghana and its connectivity to Burkina- Faso through Leo.”
He encouraged investors and the business community to consider setting up factories in the Sissala enclave to leverage the excess power supply capacity available to the area.
Dr. Suleman noted that Tumu was fortunate to have access to this substantial electricity supply without significant consumption demands.
“I hope that investors will seize this opportunity to build additional factories in the area”, he said.
He assured the public that once the reclosers were replaced and the two transformers interconnected, there would be a more stable supply of electricity in Tumu and surrounding communities, which should encourage small-scale industries to benefit from it.
During the visit to Gridco in Tumu, Mr Stephen Babiniaching Bawisi, the operator on duty, indicated that the Tumu Gridco Station could deliver over 60 Megawatt (MW) of power to Tumu township and surrounding communities.
However, only 5 MW was consumed daily across the entire area, including Tumu, Gwollu, Funsi, and Leo in Burkina Faso.
Occasionally, KEDAN Ltd, a maize processing factory, consumed an additional 1 MW, bringing the total consumption to 6MW.
When it was operational, the Ghana Cotton Company in Tumu alone consumed up to 5 MW.
Mr Bawisi explained that the Tumu-Wellembelle-Nabulo transmission line reclosers were faulty, which resulted in power outages that affected the Tumu township.
“Fortunately, the Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCo) has assured us that they will take on the responsibility, and plans are underway to replace the reclosers as soon as possible to bring stability to the power supply in the Wellembelle, Nabulo and Tumu township areas”, he explained.
He also revealed that the substation houses two 30 MW transformers (60 MW combined), which needed to be interconnected.
This interconnection he said would ensure continuous power supply when one transformer was down for maintenance.
He said despite the excess power in the area, the Ghana News Agency can confirm that over 30 communities in Sissala East, Sissala West, and Wa East are without electricity.
GNA
CAE/KOA