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GRIDCo Holds Maiden Stakeholders' Forum on Wholesale Electricity Market Operations
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Under the auspices of the Market Operations Section of the System Operations Department, GRIDCo held its maiden Stakeholders’ Forum on Wholesale Electricity Market Operations, on October 13, 2011.

The purpose of the forum was to explain the rationale for establishing a Wholesale Electricity Market (WEM) Operations in Ghana and present an overview of the phased approach towards its operationalization.

The forum brought together, GRIDCo’s local and international stakeholders, including ECG, VRA, Bui Power Authority, VALCO, Sunon Asogli Power Ltd., Sonabel, CEB, CIE, GRIDCo Management and a cross section of staff.

Hon. Inusah Fuseini, Deputy Minister of Energy, was the Guest Speaker for the occasion. He was met on arrival by Mr. Charles Darku, Chief Executive, GRIDCo, together with Dr. Ahenkorah, Executive Secretary, Energy Commission; Mr. Stephen Adu, Executive Secretary, PURC;, Mr. Kweku Awortwi, Chief Executive, VRA and Mr. Jabesh Amissah-Arthur, Chief Executive, Bui Power Authority.

Welcoming participants, on behalf of the Board, Management and staff of GRIDCo, Mr. Eric Asare, Director System Operations, expressed satisfaction with the attendance. He highlighted GRIDCo’s role in the WEM; which include among others, undertaking economic dispatch of electricity; providing fair and non-discriminatory transmission services to all power market participants; undertaking metering and billing services; managing the Wholesale Power Market and interconnection with WAPP.

In a brief presentation, Mr. Darku advised participants to “…see this as a shadow market stage, where all the unforeseen occurrences will be made manifest and worked upon, in order to make the market robust over time.” He reiterated that, the change in the telecom industry, with all its positive results, did not happen overnight, so we should use the Ghana market as a learning experience, to build capacity for the WEM to grow to even beyond our borders as part of the realization of WAPP’s objective”.

The Chairman for the occasion, Mr. Jabesh Amissah-Arthur commended GRIDCo for taking the initiative to hold such a very important forum, urging participants to be fully engaged in order to ensure fruitful deliberations.

In his opening remarks, Hon. Fuseini expressed delight to be part of such an interactive forum. He noted that the event was as a result of an initiative taken by then NDC government in 1994, to ensure reliable and economic supply of electricity in Ghana.

He stated that, “in 1994, the NDC Government then embarked on the energy sector reforms with the view to creating an enabling environment for private investors to enter the power generation business. The objective of the reforms was to ensure reliable supply of electricity at competitive price, which would definitely influence the ability of Ghanaian industries to compete domestically and internationally. Certainly, such an effort is expected to have a direct impact on the fortunes of the national economy.”

He also advised that, with Ghana’s position in the sub-region, our neighbours should be able to take advantage of the positive outcomes of the market related activities that we are undertaking, so that, together we can work to improve our services to our customers and grow a sub-regional power market within ECOWAS …”

“The Market is being established for the interconnected system of Ghana. This market will facilitate greater competition and private sector investment by allowing wholesale purchasers of electricity greater flexibility as to how and from whom to procure electricity. The Market will also include a mechanism for ensuring that adequate generation is available to satisfy the growing demand for electricity,” the Minister noted.

He encouraged representatives of sub-regional sister Utilities, to “ … participate actively to enrich the deliberations in the interest of ensuring reliable power supply in West Africa.”
In his presentation, Mr. Mark Baah, Manager, Market Operations, highlighted the rationale for the commencement of a Wholesale Electricity Market Operations as; the onset of generation competition; imminent generation capacity deficient due to high demand growth and impact of the oil economy and the need to establish clear incentives for the private sector to invest in generation.

He explained that the WEM will be operationalized in three phases. In phase one GRIDCo will engage Market Participant to establish a culture of electricity market processes. It will include data exchanges to facilitate; dispatch decisions; identification and allocation of Ancillary Service.

Phase two would involve the provision of Ancillary Services, Unbundled Transmission Services and Forward Capacity Market.

The day-ahead Market in phase three, will comprise Bilateral Contracts and a Spot Market; day-ahead Market Operation.

A Q. & A. session followed, which provided a platform for questions and comments from participants.

In concluding, Mr. Charles Darku informed participants that discussion held were by no
means exhaustive, and that there is a world of information to discuss so, they should expect more.

Mr. Amissah-Arthur Chairman for the Occasion, thanked participants for their active participation and contribution in making the Forum a success.

Posted: Nov 03 2011

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