The Electricity Company of Ghana Limited (ECG), Accra West region, has intensified compliance with the Company's Annual Maintenance Plan (AMP). The AMP is a strategic document that outlines specific maintenance activities to be carried out on the Company's electrical network. Activities under the AMP include monitoring and maintenance of overhead conductors, underground cables and substation equipment like transformers and switchgear, extensible switches, and ring main units, among others. Speaking during a planned maintenance visit to the 'A201' substation at Mama's Inn, Dansoman, Mr Emmanuel Ankrah, the Accra West Regional Engineer, said, 'The AMP makes it mandatory for us to visit our technical equipment at least once every quarter'. He added that during those visits, they did routine inspections, undertook planned maintenance exercises and corrected any identified defects. Mr Akrah said to engender regular compliance with the AMP, the Accra West region had outlined strategies, including night monitor ing and deployment of more teams to augment the already stretched technical maintenance team that worked during the day. Mr Ankrah said due to the recent heat wave, ECG had recorded an increased demand for more electricity in some communities, especially during peak load hours. 'Our data shows that the electricity demand in some communities during peak load hours are up to the full capacity of their installed transformers, leading to faults and outages,' he said. The Accra West Regional Engineer said those transformers had been earmarked for upgrade or injections to relieve some load and ensure a more reliable supply. Mr Emmanuel Akinie, the General Manager for the Accra West Region, assured customers of the Region's readiness to ensure that electricity distribution was not curtailed by localised faults. He noted that fault teams had been stationed at vantage points to respond quickly to customer complaints, repair faults and restore supply at any time during the day, across all operational districts in the region. Mr Akinie said the frequency of localised faults leading to outages would be reduced, while the lifespan of technical equipment would be prolonged. 'Also, the Company gets to know and monitor the load on each distribution transformer, especially during peak hours of the day,' he added. The Accra West region has a total of 2,802 distribution transformers, made up of 2,030 pole-mounted transformers and 772 ground-mounted transformers. The Accra West region has eight operational districts. These are Ablekuma, Achimota, Amasaman, Bortianor, Dansoman, Kaneshie, Korlebu and Nsawam Source: Ghana News Agency
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