By Edward Acquah, GNA
Accra, Nov. 12, GNA – Government will phase out all emergency power plants by December 2030 to reduce electricity generation costs and secure reliable power for industrial growth.
The plan forms part of a broader strategy to expand generation capacity through state-owned thermal and solar plants, supported by battery storage, while modernising the transmission and distribution networks.
Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, Minister of Finance, announced the measures when presenting the 2027 Budget Statement and Economic Policy to Parliament on Thursday.
He said energy was a key pillar of the Government’s proposed GH¢10 billion New Economy agenda and that the planned investments would meet rising electricity demand.
“By 2030, we’ll phase out all emergency power plants,” he told Parliament.
The phase-out plan comes against the background of persistent energy-sector debts, which have strained public finances and threatened the operations of power producers.
In May 2025, Energy Minister Dr John Abdulai Jinapor said Ghana owed Independent Power Producers (IPPs) more than US$1.7 billion, with Karpowership threatening to shut down its plant over unpaid bills.
The government later paid about US$1.47 billion in legacy energy-sector debts. In August 2026, Dr Jinapor said the payments and reforms to the Cash Waterfall Mechanism had enabled IPPs to receive close to 100 per cent of their invoiced amounts, although sector arrears had stood at about GHS80 billion when the Government assumed office.
Under the new strategy, Dr Forson said Government would construct a fully state-owned 1,450-megawatt thermal power plant and a 600-megawatt solar plant, supported by 2,000 megawatt-hours of battery storage.
The storage system would retain excess solar power generated during the day for use during peak demand periods and help stabilise the national grid.
He said the additional capacity would support households and industries, including bauxite, manganese and steel processing, cement production, agro-industry and the 24-hour economy.
“Energy capacity is economic capacity; it powers growth, jobs and prosperity,” he said.
The government would also invest US$500 million between 2027 and 2030 to modernise the transmission network, reduce losses and strengthen the North-South electricity transmission corridor.
Dr Forson said two million prepaid meters would be deployed to reduce distribution losses, while performance-based private sector participation in electricity distribution would be fully implemented by the end of 2027.
He said the interventions were expected to eliminate the annual US$1.4 billion in public funds used to cover energy-sector shortfalls and reduce the cost of power generation from about 16 US cents to eight US cents or less per kilowatt-hour.
GNA
Edited by Kenneth Sackey
Reporter: Edward Acquah
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