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I have earlier written about our power problems here in Ghana. Since no new power stations have been built since the Akosombo dam (see picture)in the 1960ies the supply is not enough for the demand, and then on top of that the dam is drying up…
At present two out of the six turbines in the dam are running. To make that power last, we have scheduled power sharing. We have power 24 hours then it is turned off for 12 hours (by everybody called “light off”), altering day and night. Yesterday, the Ghanaian radio station Joy FM got their hands on a secret technical report which suggests that if the water inflow does not rise before the end of this month one of the remaining two turbines have to be shut off to not empty the dam, halving the supply of power in Ghana.
On a personal level, I can see how this is very serious. However, it means either never again have anything refrigerated or toasted OR buying a generator and some environmentally unfriendly fuel. Probably the latter. For the nation, it is just devastating. Not only is the fuel running out due to all generators, inflation rising due to that companies have to add the cost of fuel to their products, also the productivity is coming to a halt. It is simply difficult to produce without electricity. When I a few weeks ago paid a visit to one of the government agencies that is to be working on this problem, the person I went to see could not turn on his computer.
“Our generator is not working and today is light off”.
The poor power situation is indeed a very vicious circle.
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