The Energy Ministry has disclosed that the Akosombo Dam has been completely shut down following a fire incident at the Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo) Substation in Akosombo.
The Ministry says the fire outbreak caused extensive damage to critical infrastructure at the substation, forcing authorities to shut the entire dam down.
Spokesperson for the Ministry of Energy and Green Transition, Richmond Rockson, speaking on the BigIssue segment on the NewDay morning show on Monday, April 27, 2026, noted that the affected substation distributes power generated by the dam across several parts of the country, making the development critical.
The fire outbreak worsened the already existing power outages across the country, which the Electricity Company of Ghana had explained were due to an ongoing transformer upgrade.
Several parts of the country have been experiencing power outages for some time now, with the situation becoming worse since the fire outbreak occurred last week.
In his explanation, Rockson told host, Beatrice Adu, that: “This challenge is as a result of a fire outbreak that happened at the Akosombo substation which is very close to the Dam which evacuates power that is generated by the Dam and it’s been burnt down completely.
“Immediately that happened, it affected power generation because we had to shut down the dam itself. So that’s a peculiar challenge, we lost the entire Akosombo generation,” he explained.
He painted a picture of how gloomy the development is for the country’s electricity supply, considering that the Akosombo Dam alone used to supply energy for the entire country some years ago, showing how huge the shutdown is in terms of its effect on electricity supply.
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.
Meanwhile, the sector Minister, Dr. John Abdulai Jinapor, is expected to address the nation on the state of electricity supply and other matters related to the sector later today, Monday, April 27.
Energy Minister to address nation on developments in electricity sector today, April 27
