(3 minutes read)
· Ivory Coast is in the grip of a severe power shortage. The country is known for power cuts
· But during this time around, power cuts are unheard, says the head of the Ayamé hydroelectric dam (South)
· People are looking forward to the rainy season to put an end to one of the untimely power cuts that has crippled households and industry alike in the country since April
Ivory Coast is in the grip of a severe power shortage. The country is known for power cuts. But during this time around, power cuts are unheard, says the head of the Ayamé hydroelectric dam (South) . People are looking forward to the rainy season to put an end to one of the untimely power cuts that has crippled households and industry alike in the country since April.
Two dams in the southeast of Côte d’Ivoire located in Ayamé, near Aboisso, are almost dry, and the heavy rains expected from June onwards are the only hope for a rise in water levels, which has dropped by five meters, the first time in more than a decade. The
major reason for the massive power cuts is the breakdown in April of the Azito thermal power plant in Abidjan. This thermal power station generates a third of the country’s electricity for the industrial and household purposes.
With the breakdown of the thermal power station, people were banking on hydroelectric projects for power. Authorities tried to maximize the generation to make good the deficit due to breakdown in the thermal power stations. Lower water levels in the dams are preventing authorities to go for additional generation from the dams. The authorities maintain that they would prefer power rationing rather than load shedding.
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The Ivorian Electricity Company (CIE), privatized in 1990 is now owned by Eranove. It holds a monopoly on the operation of the system of production, transport, distribution of electricity, as well as its marketing. The company exported 11 percent of its electricity
production to six neighboring countries – Ghana, Togo, Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali and Liberia in 2020. This has even led to consumer resistance. But the company officials maintain that there is no power shortage in the country since the dam produces 2300 MW, enough to meet the peak demand. They say that once the rains come in June, power
shortage will be automatically addressed.
