The Board and Management of the Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo) and the Uganda Electricity Transmission Company Limited (UETCL) have committed to deliver sustainable and reliable power supply in both countries.
The UETCL, led by the Chairman of the Board of Directors, Acting Chief Executive Officer and Members of Management, are in Ghana on a three-day tour.
Both companies are expected to, among other things, build a mutually beneficial partnership through the sharing of experiences while exploring new and best approaches in electricity transmission in Ghana and Uganda.
The Uganda Electricity Transmission Company Limited hopes to benchmark in the commercialization of the Company’s communication assets in particular the fibre optic services and other data products.
The Ugandan team is expected to understudy the Project implementation of GRIDCo and the challenges it encounters and how they are mitigated.
Ambassador Kabral Blay-Amihene, Chairman, Board of Directors of GRIDCo, joined by other members of the Board, said the visit provided a platform for discussions of common challenges, exchange of ideas, and experience with the view of future collaborations in their collective strive to fulfil their mandates of delivering sustainable and reliable power.
He said the current leadership of GRIDCo had developed the expertise and capacity over the years to serve as the backbone of power delivery in Ghana and beyond.
Such expertise, the Board Chairman said, had allowed GRIDCo to be in a strategic position to export power to its neighbours in the sub-region, including Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Togo and Benin.
Mr Blay-Amihene said, as a member of the West African Power Pool Project, GRIDCo was taking the necessary steps to contribute to sustainable power delivery in the entire sub-region.
“Within the spirit of South-South Cooperation and through the sharing of knowledge and experiences, light everywhere – in every city, town and village in Africa – is what will power the development of Africa and hopefully, we can together take all the necessary steps to achieve this dream through cooperation,” he explained.
Mr Ebenezer Essienyi, Chief Executive Officer of GRIDCO, said the Company in the last 14 years continued to strive for excellence to deliver on its mandate of delivering a reliable national grid for development.
The future, he stated, depended on how GRIDCo positioned itself to meet the ever-growing power demand needs of Ghanaians, bulk customers and the sub-regional obligations that came with its operations.
Mr Michael Taremwa Kananura, Acting Chief Executive Officer, Uganda Electricity Transmission Company Limited, said the company, formed in 2021, took over the transmission infrastructure previously owned by the Uganda Electricity Board.
He said: “UETCL is licensed by ERA to purchase and sell bulk power, operate and maintain the High Voltage (HV) network, undertake a system operation role, export and import power into the country.”
Over the years, the Ag. CEO said the Company had been assigned a special duty to implement transmission projects on behalf of the Government of Uganda, which required the expertise of GRIDCo.
Mr Kananura said, UETCL had a circuit length of 3,385 kilometers of different capacities and 29 substations with a transformation capacity of 3,403.5 MVA.
He stated that the Company had completed 17 major transmission projects and that on each project, it ran an internet fibre optic to enable connectivity visibility.
“The extra fibre capacity is sold out to private investors. We believe this stream should bring us revenue, and UETCL is open to ideas from GRIDCo on how it is done in Ghana,” Mr Kanaura said.
Mr Kwame Ejalu Ejuku, Board Chairman of UETCL, who led the eight-member delegation to Ghana, said the Board was aware of the growth of GRIDCo’s transmission grid and its success in the management of its telecom assets GRIDTel – a strategic business unit of GRIDCo.
He, therefore, expressed optimism that the two companies and counties would build a long-term relationship for their collective benefit through knowledge sharing.
