The Institute for Energy Security (IES) has raised concerns about the stability of Ghana’s national power system following three nationwide blackouts recorded in less than a month.
The latest outage occurred at about 4:30 a.m. on Thursday, August 20, 2026, following a major fault on the Akosombo-Volta transmission line, according to the Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo).
In a statement issued on Thursday, the IES described the recurrence of nationwide power outages as “a cause for worry” and called on GRIDCo to conduct an immediate technical assessment of the latest incident and make its findings public.
The Institute recalled that Ghana experienced another nationwide blackout on July 29 after several generating plants tripped across the national power system.
Following that incident, GRIDCo said it would conduct a technical investigation to determine the cause of the disturbance and identify appropriate corrective measures.
However, the IES said no report on the investigation had been made public three weeks after the July outage.
“Three weeks on, no such report has been made public,” the Institute stated.
According to the IES, the latest outage has heightened concerns about the reliability and resilience of the national grid, particularly at a time when electricity demand continues to grow.
IES calls for transparency
The Institute urged GRIDCo to expedite efforts to restore power fully to all affected areas and conduct a comprehensive technical assessment of the latest incident.
It also called on the company to be transparent about challenges affecting the national power system to ensure that the public is adequately informed.
“GRIDCo must also undertake full and transparent disclosure to the public regarding the challenges confronting the national power system, so that Ghanaians are kept properly informed,” the statement said.
The IES further called for immediate short-term measures to protect the stability of the national grid, alongside long-term investments to strengthen the resilience of the power system.
The Institute said the repeated outages should serve as a wake-up call for urgent action to identify and address vulnerabilities within the national electricity network.
The latest blackout has also renewed public concerns about the reliability of Ghana’s power supply, with some consumers expressing frustration over the recurrence of widespread power interruptions.
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