The committee set up to look into the Akosombo Dam fire outbreak has attributed the inferno to insulation failure making the nation loss power of 1,000megawatts.
The fire outbreak 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.
The fire ravaged the switch system and the primary control room for the switch yard of the Akosombo Dam.
The Energy Minister subsequently formed a seven-member committee to investigate the fire outbreak.
The committee was given 4 weeks to come up with a report detailing the lapses, and possible recommendations.
Chairman of the Committee, Engineer Amoo Narh on Thursday, June 11, 2026 presented final investigation report to the Minister of Energy and Green transition, Dr. John Jinapor.
The Minister accepted the report and assured that it will make full use of its recommendations.
The committee recommends that a state-of-the-art control room be established to replace the current one being used which was built in 1964.
Addressing the media and members of the committee after receiving the report, Dr. Jinapor noted that “this should be a wake-up call for us so that we can strengthen the system, to make it more responsible, improve our emergency response system, our maintenance culture and more importantly invest in the grid in order to have a resilient energy sector.”
He mentioned that a temporal control center is being built with plans to establish a ultra-modern control room in future.
“Already, I know that the control center, the temporal one is being built. You have given us an indication that we need to build the state-of-the-art ultra-modern control room that is fit for purpose. To continue to use that building since 1964, a lot has changed and we need to also change and adapt to emerging situations,” he added.
He underscored the need for the sector to be able to finance its own activities and be self-reliant.
“I believe that the energy sector eventually could be self-reliant. We cannot continue to fall on a national budget for huge sums of monies to subsidize that sector,” he remarked.
