Large parts of Ghana were plunged into darkness in the early hours of Thursday, August 20, after a major fault on the Akosombo–Volta transmission line triggered a widespread power system disturbance.
The Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo) said the fault occurred at approximately 4:30 a.m., causing the automatic tripping of the Akosombo generating units and some thermal power plants.
The company explained that the shutdown was activated by the National Interconnected Transmission System’s protection mechanisms to safeguard the stability and integrity of the national power grid. The incident consequently interrupted electricity supply to parts of the country.
GRIDCo said its engineers immediately moved to isolate the affected transmission line and began restoring the system in coordination with other power sector agencies.
“Immediately following the incident, GRIDCo engineers, working in close coordination with other power sector agencies, took steps to isolate the affected transmission line and commenced the safe and systematic restoration of the power system,” the company said.
Power has already been restored to some affected areas, while technical teams continue working to reconnect the remaining customers.
GRIDCo said all relevant technical teams have been fully mobilised and are working to restore the power system as quickly and safely as possible.
The company apologised for the disruption and urged consumers to remain patient as restoration efforts continue.
Thursday’s incident comes just three weeks after another widespread power outage on July 29, when a disturbance on the National Interconnected Transmission System caused several generating plants to trip simultaneously. GRIDCo subsequently launched a technical investigation into that incident.
The latest outage is therefore likely to renew concerns over the stability and resilience of Ghana’s electricity transmission network as engineers work to restore full power supply across the affected areas.
