The Minister of Energy and Green Transition, Dr John Abdulai Jinapor, has provided detailed information on the cause of the widespread electric power outage in Ghana on Thursday morning, similar to what happened three weeks ago on Wednesday, July 29, 2026.
Following the April 23, 2026 fire incident at the GRIDCo Akosombo Switchyard, the engineers came up with a temporary solution, which is currently allowing the Akosombo plant to continue supplying power while engineers worked on a permanent solution.
That permanent solution, which is the construction of the permanent control room, is progressing and is expected to be completed in September.
Explaining why there was a widespread electric power outage in some parts of Ghana on Thursday morning similar to what happened on July 29, 2026, the Minister of Energy and Green Transition, Dr John Abdulai Jinapor, said it was due to the temporary system being used to maintain electricity supply from the Akosombo Power Plant.
Referencing the major April 23, 2026 fire incident at the Ghana Grid Company's (GRIDCo) switchyard at Akosombo, the minister explained that the incident presented two options.
The first was to shut down the Akosombo plant completely and reconstruct the control centre, a process that would have kept the facility out of operation for about six months.
The second was to introduce a temporary mechanism to allow Akosombo to continue to supply power
Dr Jinapor said, as the sector minister, he opted for the temporary arrangement because it would help prevent a prolonged disruption to the country’s electricity supply.
“I had a decision to make, and I decided that we should go by the temporary measure whilst we put in place a permanent solution,” he said.
The Minister explained that engineers had been working around the clock to improvise a system capable of maintaining power supply from Akosombo.
He said the temporary mechanism had largely held for several months, but acknowledged that it remained vulnerable to occasional frequency disturbances within the power system.
“When there is some frequency disturbance, it takes off a customer immediately to protect the system,” he explained.
According to Dr Jinapor, the mechanism was designed to disconnect customers when such disturbances occur to protect the wider power system and prevent a potentially more serious disruption.
The minister, who was speaking at the inauguration of a new headquarters building for the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) in on Thursday (Aug 20, 2026), acknowledged that parts of Accra and other areas experienced an outage lasting approximately one to one-and-a-half hours on Thursday.
Energy Minister John Jinapor on the cause of the widespread Thursday morning electric power outage and the permanent solution being instituted at Akosombo on the control system pic.twitter.com/oy2rEMzSVS
— DailyGraphic GraphicOnline (@Graphicgh) August 20, 2026
He said the government recognised the inconvenience caused to households, businesses and other electricity consumers, but maintained that the temporary interruptions were preferable to shutting down the Akosombo facility for six months.
“It’s true, today we had about one hour outage to about one and a half hour outage for some parts of Accra and some parts of the country, but I can’t compare that to having six months of Akosombo perpetually down,” Dr Jinapor said.
He appealed to Ghanaians to bear with the situation, describing the circumstances surrounding the Akosombo incident as complex and requiring engineers to develop an innovative solution to maintain power stability.
“Please bear with us. Please bear with me,” he said.
Dr Jinapor said the government’s decision to rely on the temporary arrangement was intended to keep Akosombo operational while work continued on a permanent control system.
He further disclosed that construction of the permanent control room was progressing and is expected to be completed next month.
“This phase is just a temporary phase. I am sure that by next month we will switch back to the original plan and we’ll have a much more resilient power supply situation,” he said.
The Minister also acknowledged that even short power interruptions could have significant consequences for consumers and businesses, particularly those that depend on reliable electricity to operate.
However, he stressed that the government had to balance the immediate inconvenience of occasional outages against the potential impact of taking one of the country’s major power-generation facilities offline for an extended period.
Arrangement
He said the temporary arrangement had provided a way to keep electricity flowing from Akosombo while engineers worked towards restoring the plant’s permanent control infrastructure.
Dr Jinapor expressed confidence that the completion of the new control centre would address the weaknesses associated with the temporary mechanism and strengthen the reliability of the power supply.
He said the permanent system would provide a more resilient framework for managing the plant and reduce the likelihood of disruptions caused by the technical limitations of the temporary arrangement.
Dr Jinapor maintained that although Thursday’s outage was inconvenient, the government’s decision had helped avoid a much longer disruption that could have resulted from a complete six-month shutdown of the Akosombo Power Plant.
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