Give us load shedding management 3 to 4hrs in advance – ECG to GRIDCo

The Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo) made accusations against the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) for allegedly failing to follow load management directives. The ECG has responded to these claims.

Concerning ECG’s compliance with load management instructions from GRIDCo’s System Control Centre (SCC), GRIDCo virtually accused the power distributor of being uncooperative and endangering the nation’s power supply in a letter dated March 28, 2024.

GRIDCo’s characterization of the situation lacks context and ignores ECG’s operational challenges. ECG, which has emphasized its commitment to work with GRIDCo and maintain operational cohesion within the electricity value chain, has expressed confusion and concern over the allegations.

“The letter which was received on 3rd April, 2024 portrays that there is no cohesion and cooperation in operational matters between ECG and GRIDCo in maintaining national power system integrity. ECG wants to reiterate that GRIDCo is our partner in the electricity value chain, and that we work closely together. This makes the presence and circulation of this letter confounding to ECG.”

ECG’s response, which Myjoyonline was able to view, states that the main concerns are with the timeliness and sufficiency of the load management requests that GRIDCo sent. Although ECG admits to receiving instructions from GRIDCo to drop loads at particular Bulk Supply Points (BSPs), it draws attention to differences in the requests’ timing and how these affect operational planning.

In order to better plan and notify customers, ECG supplied comprehensive statistics on load management requests that it received from GRIDCo between January and March 2024. These statistics showed instances in which requests were received just before peak or off-peak times. ECG claims that in spite of these difficulties, especially in January and February 2024, it has continued to comply with load management requests at a high level.

“It is a fact that GRIDCO routinely directs ECG’s System Operators to drop load at some of our Bulk Supply Points (BSPs), but the issue has been the inadequacy between the time these requests are received and the time these requests must be effected to sustain the integrity of the power system and also for ECG to inform its customers.

“It worthy to note that, between January and March 2024, sixty-four (64No.) requests were received from GRIDCo for load management. Out of this, forty (40No.) were for peak periods (18:00 – 24:00 hrs) and twenty-four (24No.) for off-peak (06:00 – 18:00 hrs) load management.

“Out of the forty (40no.) peak load requests, thirty-five (35No.) (88%) of them were received within an hour to the peak period. There were only five (5No) (12%) instances where ECG received the request within 2-3 hours of the peak period.

“Out of the Twenty-Four (24No.) off-peak load requests, three (3No) (13%) of them were received within 30 minutes to the off-peak period while the remaining Twenty-One (21 No.) (87%) instances were received far into the off-peak period.”

Additionally, ECG outlined particular instances from March 2024 in which network operational issues resulted in a reduced rate of adherence to GRIDCo’s load management guidelines.

ECG also emphasized that in order for ECG to effectively plan and carry out operations without unduly affecting customers, GRIDCo must notify ECG in advance of requests for load management.

In order to maintain the stability of the transmission system, the power distributor also reaffirmed its commitment to working with GRIDCo and other stakeholders. On the other hand, ECG renewed its demand that GRIDCo give prompt and thorough notices for load management operations in order to promote efficient coordination and reduce customer disruptions.

“It is noted that, requests from GRIDCo for load management are no longer for emergency operations, but are made on a routine day-to-day basis, becoming an irritation and disturbance to customers.

“ECG wishes to state that we will always cooperate with all relevant stakeholders including GRIDCo in order not to jeopardize the stability of the Transmission system. We however wish to reiterate our request that the Notice to our System Operators for load management should be received before 3:00pm for peak load and 4am for off-peak load management or to be received 24 hours ahead in each case, as what is happening now is no longer an emergency operation but seemingly a routine daily activity,” stated the letter, which Samuel D. Mahama, the managing director of ECG, signed.

Source: Ghanatodayonline.com