Page 6 - AfrElec Week 19 2021

AfrElec POWER CUTS AfrElec

Dumsor in West Africa as water levels

fall in Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana

WEST AFRICA DECLINING power output in Cote d’Ivoire and MW from 200 MW,” Camara said.
Ghana has caused power cuts in neighbouring A spokesperson at Mali’s energy ministry said
West African countries such as Mali and Burkina that electricity imports from Ivory Coast had
Faso. fallen 30%, causing repeated outages and leading
A prolonged dry season has reduced water to a 100-MW generation deficit.
levels at reservoirs, hitting supplies of electricity Burkina Faso’s utility blamed its power short-
to agriculture and industry. ages and cuts on generation constraints in Ghana
In Cote d’Ivoire, which exports power to six and Ivory Coast.
countries, the national power company faces a In Ghana, which exports to Burkina Faso, the
generation deficit of about 200 MW, or nearly national utility is carrying out rolling outages
10% of its 2,230-MW capacity, director-general until May 17.
Ahmadou Bakayoko told a news conference last The power regulator on Friday blamed the
week, Reuters reported. problem on several issues, including work on
Officials said that most power companies in transmission lines and a lack of rain that has left
the country were producing at reduced capacity. reservoirs depleted in the north of the country.
“Electricity production at the national level The outages in Cote d’Ivoire have led to com-
has been severely impacted since November plaints from the cocoa sector, which depends on
2020 by major unforeseen technical incidents on a steady power supply for its grinding machines.
our electricity generation tools,” Energy Minister Two industry sources said most cocoa grind-
Thomas Camera said. ers were operating at between 25% and 50% of
Power cuts are known as dumsor across capacity.
the region and are a major brake on economic The power cuts have led to a rush by busi-
growth. nesses to secure diesel-powered generators,
Camara said that state utility CIE had been which are scarce and expensive. Those unable to
forced to use reserve water from its reservoirs to afford them have sent workers home, the sources
keep hydropower plants (HPPs) going but there said.
was not enough rain to replenish dams. “This has led to additional production costs
Delays in the expansion of the Azito thermal for us because diesel generators cost three to four
power plant (TPP) in the main city Abidjan due times more than conventional electricity,” said
to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic have Louis Amede, director-general of Cote d’Ivoire
also hit capacity. ‘s business federation.
The situation could return to normal around He said the national utility was rationing
July, he said. power to companies, supplying them for just 12
“We have drastically reduced exports to 60 hours out of every 48.™

P6 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 19 13•May•2021