Rebuilding Akosombo Substation to Take Months After Fire Destruction
The Ministry of Energy has stated that it will take several months to fully rebuild the damaged Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo) Akosombo Substation, following the fire that destroyed key components of the facility.
The substation, which is vital for Ghana’s electricity transmission network, was consumed by fire on April 23, causing major disruptions to the country’s power supply.
This incident has raised serious concerns about the resilience of Ghana’s energy infrastructure and how long it will take to restore full operation.
Providing an update, Richmond Rockson, spokesperson for the Energy Ministry, explained that the damage at the site is extensive, especially to the control systems managing power distribution from the Akosombo Dam.
In an interview with Citi FM in Accra on Monday, April 27, Richmond explained that the fire destroyed the switch system at the facility, making it impossible to continue operations.
“The switch yard, which is at the Akosombo Substation, is completely burnt down and it is not salvageable. The primary control room for the switch yard is completely gone. It was even difficult for us to walk there when we got there to assess the situation,” he said.
He added that the scale of the damage left authorities with no option but to shut down the dam.
“And when that happened, we had to shut the Akosombo Dam completely, and so that is what caused the outages in many parts of the country as we are seeing. Because Akosombo is a major component when it comes to our power generation,” he stated
He emphasised that rebuilding efforts will be slow due to the heavy damage to the facility’s core infrastructure.
“The whole control room has to be rebuilt and will not take a day or two, it will take a number of months to be able to do that so what needs to be immediately done is finding ways to restore power and restore our lives back to normalcy.”
He also noted that, temporarily, authorities are implementing contingency plans to lessen the outage’s impact, such as rerouting power and seeking alternative generation options.
The lengthy reconstruction period is expected to have wider economic consequences, especially for sectors that rely heavily on stable electricity.
