By Amoako Kwame
President John Dramani Mahama has said the recent fire at the Akosombo power enclave presents a chance to upgrade key infrastructure, following disruptions that led to renewed power outages nationwide.
He made the comments on Thursday, April 30, after touring the Akosombo Dam to evaluate the impact of the incident, which affected a substation managed by the Ghana Grid Company.
The fire destroyed critical equipment, resulting in the loss of over 1,000 megawatts of electricity to the national grid and causing intermittent power supply in various parts of the country.
Speaking to engineers and officials during his visit, President Mahama noted that the incident offers an opportunity to rebuild and strengthen the system with more resilient infrastructure.
“This presents an opportunity because now that this adversity has happened, it gives us an opportunity to replace it with a more modern control room that will serve this Akosombo Plant and let it work for more generations yet to come,” he said.
He praised the technical teams for their prompt response in restoring operations, highlighting the progress made so far in stabilizing power generation.
“You have four of the turbines back on, and he says that you’re working another miracle and that I’ll get good news soon, with the remaining two turbines also coming back on,” he added
The President restated the government’s commitment to backing key state energy institutions, describing both GRIDCo and the Volta River Authority (VRA) as vital to Ghana’s power sector.
Meanwhile, the Energy Minister, John Jinapor, confirmed that four generating units at the dam have been restored, with the remaining units expected to be back online within the week.
