The staff of the Volta River Authority (VRA) intend to petition President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo over a proposal to merge with the Bui Power Authority, the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and the Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCo).
A successful merger will pave the way for the government to establish an independent Thermal Power Authority from the VRA’s thermal plants.
However, the groups who oppose the merger, argue that the proposed changes are merely an attempt to lease the authority to cronies.
In an interview, the Chairman of the Senior Staff Association of VRA, Theophilus Tetteh Ahia, stressed that they would use all legal means to stop the merger.
“We are Ghanaians and we are major stakeholders in this and we are going to use all legitimate forces within our means, all the legal processes that we have to ensure that Ghanaians are not shortchanged.
“We cannot fold our hands and allow anything Ghana to be sold to the highest bidder. We are going to resist this [merger].
“We are coming out to petition TUC because the little information we have is that they have also not been consulted. We are going to petition the President to tell the President that we think that this issue is not in the best interest of Ghanaians,” he noted in an interview monitored by The Ghana Report on Citi News.
“But we want Ghanaians to know that we are not interested and we are not in favour of this legislation and then the sale of the VRA Thermal Plant,” he added.
About Volta River Authority
The Volta River Authority (VRA), established on April 26, 1961, is mandated to generate, transmit and distribute electricity under the Volta River Development Act, Act 46 of the Republic of Ghana.
However, following the promulgation of a major amendment to the Act within the context of the Ghana Government Power Sector Reforms in 2005, the VRA’s mandate has now been largely restricted to the generation of electricity. This amendment has created an enabling environment to attract Independent Power Producers (IPPs) into the Ghana Energy market.
The amendment also hived off the VRA’s transmission function into a separate entity designated the Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo), while the distribution agency, the Northern Electricity Department (NED), established in April 1987, also evolved into the Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCo), a wholly-owned standalone subsidiary of the VRA.
The VRA has diversified its power generation portfolio to take advantage of available and sustainable sources of energy, mainly hydro, and natural gas and renewables. The Authority owns and operates a total installed electricity generation capacity of 2,547MW. The two main hydro plants, Akosombo and Kpong Generating Stations both located on the Volta River have 1,020MW and 160MW respectively. These are complemented by a 2.5MW Solar PV Plant at Navrongo in the Upper East Region, a 6.54MW Solar PV Plant at Lawra (in the Upper West Regiion), and 13MW and 15MW Solar PV Plants both at Kaleo in the Upper West Region.
The VRA also owns a number of thermal plants located in Aboadze near Takoradi, Tema and Anwomaso in the Ashanti Region. The Authority’s thermal facilities include the 330MW Takoradi Thermal (T1) Power Station, a 340MW Takoradi International Company Thermal (T2) Power Plant, which is a joint venture (JV) between VRA and TAQA from Abu Dhabi; a 110MW Tema Thermal 1 Power Plant (TT1PP) now designated Station 2, an 80MW Tema Thermal 2 Power Plant (TT2PP) designated as Station 3, a 220MW Kpone Thermal Power Station (KTPS) and a 150MW Anwomaso Thermal Power Station (ATPS), with an additional 100MW yet to be relocated from Aboadze to Anwomaso.