The Ministry of Energy has disclosed that the Akosombo Dam has been completely shut down following a devastating fire outbreak at the Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo) Substation at Akosombo, an incident that has significantly disrupted power supply across the country.
According to the Ministry, the fire caused extensive damage to critical infrastructure at the substation, forcing authorities to take the drastic but necessary decision to halt operations at the dam.
Speaking in an interview on the Citi Breakfast Show on Monday, April 27, the Ministry’s spokesperson, Richmond Rockson, provided details about the scale of destruction and the implications for the country’s power generation system.
He explained that the fire ravaged the switch system of the Akosombo Dam, rendering it inoperable and necessitating an immediate shutdown.
“And when that happened, we had to shut the Akosombo Dam completely, and so that is what caused the outages in many parts of the country as we are seeing. Because Akosombo is a major component when it comes to our power generation.”
He, however, disclosed that engineers have begun work on bypassing the damaged system to quickly stabilise the electricity supply.
Mr Rockson further revealed that partial generation has already resumed at the Akosombo Dam, with one of the six turbine units currently operational to support temporary restoration efforts.
The incident reportedly occurred at approximately 2:01 p.m. on Thursday, April 23, when the substation, one of the most vital installations within Ghana’s electricity transmission network, was suddenly engulfed by flames.