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\n<\/div>\nFormer Chief Executive of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), Alex Mould, has revealed the country\u2019s power generation capacity is in so much excess it has become a liability.<\/span><\/p>\n Commenting on the recent power cuts in parts of the country on the business edition of current affairs programme, PM Express<\/b>, on Thursday, Mr Mould also suggested that power challenges are both a consequence of both technical with financial constraints.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cDumsor [power cuts] is when you have the technical issues and the financial issues and these two worlds collide and boom, you have <\/span>dumsor<\/span><\/span>,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Former GNPC boss, Alex Mould<\/i><\/p>\n Government officials <\/span>have<\/span><\/span> maintained the power cuts are temporary because they are the result of technical issues but energy experts have countered this saying financial challenges in the sector point to a bigger problem.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n Related:\u00a0Power cuts: \u2018Energy sector financially-challenged\u2019 \u2013 Experts counter Deputy Minister<\/b><\/p>\n However, on PM Express<\/b>, Mr Mould said <\/span>dumsor<\/span><\/span> is always the collision of both technical and financial challenges.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n He explained: \u201cTechnical issues are when you have plants that are not maintained properly and these plants require periodic maintenance and when that is not done, they sometimes go off in an unplanned manner. \u00a0Also, you have capacity constraints. You have don\u2019t have enough capacity you have to bring more generation capacity. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cOn the financial side, when you are not able to raise the necessary letters of credit to bring in crude oil or pay for fuel consumption from <\/span>the purchase<\/span><\/span> of gas\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n He said the country should not be going through power cuts <\/span>because<\/span>, since\u00a02016,\u00a0<\/span>Ghana took firm steps to ensure there was enough capacity.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cIn fact, we have over-capacity. What people don\u2019t know is that we have so much capacity that we are paying almost 500 million dollars a year for not using the capacity. So capacity is not the problem,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n Ghana currently has close to 4,420MW installed capacity, nearly <\/span>100<\/span><\/span>% more than it needs.\u00a0 The country needs only 2,500 megawatts at peak hours to power homes or businesses. <\/span><\/p>\n Commenting\u00a0further on the cause of the persistent power challenges, he said the problem is\u00a0hydra-headed.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThe problem now is either inadequate planning, unavailability of free gas\u2026or because you can\u2019t raise the required letters of credit from your banks to be able to bring in crude oil\u2026\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n Meanwhile, the government has promised to prevent a return of the debilitating power crisis of 2011 and 2012 and has set a 12-day deadline \u2013 which elapses next week.<\/span><\/p>\n Mr Mould said, \u201cthere is a general problem in the power industry which is the credibility of the players in the industry and the creditworthiness of the players in the industry and I think we should talk about that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Watch more in the video below.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n![\"Alex](\"https:\/\/cdn.ghanamma.com\/2019\/04\/6900139431417_991459227322.jpg\")
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