The Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo) has attributed the widespread power outage that occurred on Thursday morning to a significant fault on the Akosombo–Volta transmission line, which led to the automatic shutdown of the Akosombo generating units and several thermal plants.
According to GRIDCo, this shutdown was a part of the national power system’s protective measures aimed at ensuring the stability and integrity of the National Interconnected Transmission System.
In a statement, it said: “Immediately following the incident, GRIDCo engineers, working in close coordination with other power sector agencies, took steps to isolate the affected transmission line and commenced the safe and systematic restoration of the power system.”
Numerous regions in Ghana experienced darkness starting around 4:30 a.m. on Thursday, August 20, 2026, disrupting households, businesses, and essential services.
In Accra, the communities affected included Adabraka, Weija, Tesano, Achimota, Dzorwulu, Legon, Madina, Adenta, and Oyarifa, with residents reporting outages from the early morning hours.
The disruption also impacted areas in the Eastern, Northern, Central, and Ashanti regions, including Aburi and Tamale.
However, GRIDCo has indicated that electricity has already been restored to some of the affected areas, with ongoing efforts to restore power to the remaining customers.
“GRIDCo regrets the inconvenience caused by this temporary outage and assures the general public that all relevant technical teams have been fully mobilised and are working with urgency to achieve complete restoration of the power system,” the statement added.
Thursday’s incident marks the second significant disruption to Ghana’s national power system within a month.
On July 29, 2026, various parts of the country, including communities in Accra, Tema, Kasoa, and sections of the Ashanti and Eastern regions, also faced a widespread power outage.
The repeated outages are expected to reignite worries regarding the stability of the national power grid and the dependability of electricity supply.
GRIDCo is anticipated to offer additional updates on the situation.
