By Issah Mohammed, GNA
Accra, Aug. 25, GNA – Government has initiated a comprehensive review of Ghana’s electricity grid and infrastructure following recent system disturbances, Dr John Abdulai Jinapor, Minister for Energy and Green Transition, has announced.
The review is expected to provide an independent assessment of the condition and performance of the country’s power infrastructure and complement ongoing efforts by Ghanaian engineers to address challenges within the electricity system.
Dr Jinapo, who made the announcement at the 2026 Future of Energy Conference in Accra, said a team of experts had been tasked with undertaking the exercise, which he expected to provide a clearer assessment of the state of the electricity infrastructure.
The Conference was organised by the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) under the theme, “Powering Africa’s Industrial Transformation: Energy Systems for Value Addition and Competitiveness.”
The Minister said he had engaged ACEP, a civil society organisation, to assist with the review.
“I thought that as minister, I needed a second opinion. Just to be sure of what is happening,” he said, explaining that the independent assessment was necessary despite his confidence in Ghanaian engineers.
Dr Jinapor said the review was particularly important because consumers and businesses had limited tolerance for prolonged power interruptions, making grid reliability critical to economic activity.
He said government’s broader objective was to ensure that electricity supply was not only available but also reliable, predictable and capable of supporting industrialisation.
On the financial sustainability of the electricity sector, the Minister said government had inherited significant debts owed to Independent Power Producers (IPPs).
He said government had so far paid $1.7 billion of the inherited debt to IPPs and restored the World Bank guarantee, while reforms had enabled the state to meet almost all its IPP payment obligations in recent months.
Dr Jinapor said the financial health of the electricity sector directly affected the cost and reliability of power supplied to households and businesses.
“Regardless of how much generation capacity we install, the cost of that power is important,” he said, stressing that additional generation capacity alone would not guarantee competitive electricity supply.
The Minister said the government had also largely transitioned thermal power generation from liquid fuel to gas, resulting in savings of about $500 million in the previous year through fuel import substitution.
He said the government was pursuing further measures to diversify the energy mix, including renewable energy, while strengthening the transmission network and investing in energy storage to meet peak demand.
Dr Jinapor said Ghana was also preparing to procure 1,200 megawatts of thermal generation capacity through a competitive process, with the project expected to be completed by 2029.
He said the planned capacity expansion would have to be carefully coordinated with existing
generation commitments to prevent government from paying for unnecessary or excess capacity.
Dr Jinapor said the comprehensive grid review would complement the broader reforms aimed at creating a financially sustainable, resilient and competitive electricity sector.
He said reliable and affordable electricity was essential to Ghana’s industrialisation ambitions, noting that the country could not achieve competitive manufacturing without dependable power.
GNA
Edited by Kenneth Sackey
Reporter: Issah Mohammed