The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) in the Western Region has invested GH¢6.2million in its vegetation management activities for the year 2023.
Vegetation management is the cutting down of trees and all other green matter which have the potential to interrupt power distribution processes
The investment is aimed at reducing vegetation-related damages caused to the company’s network, and eventual power outages which occur mostly in the rainy seasons.
The Western Regional General Manager of ECG, Emmanuel J. Ofori, explained to B&FT that this move is part of the company’s effort to ensure reliable power supply for its customers, especially those in the forest areas, when the strong winds and heavy rains begin.
“Ensuring trees that interfere with our lines are pruned regularly is part of a bigger approach to maintaining reliable and stable distribution of power on our network throughout the region,” he stated.
“When we reduce downtime caused by outages due to natural occurrences such as vegetation-related interferences, it brings relief to both commercial and residential customers who rely on power for economic growth,” he continued.
Mr. Ofori appealed for commercial farm owners in the region to be sensitive to the plight of communities affected by outages caused by commercial trees on their plantation, by allowing the ECG to prune such potential rogue-trees.
He mentioned that ECG has enjoyed a very stable network in previous years, thanks to early vegetation management activities and the deployment of modern technology to identify faults.
“The deployment of drones to obtain images of suspected faults on portions of the ECG’s network, which were not easily accessible by road, saw a sharp decline in downtime caused by outages, especially in the Western North area,” he concluded.
