Energy and Green Transition Minister John Abdulai Jinapor has urged Ghanaians to remain patient with the ongoing intermittent power outages, attributing the disruptions to a temporary system installed at the Akosombo Generating Station. He explained that the interim arrangement was introduced following a major incident at Akosombo, when engineers faced two options: either shut down the plant for six months to construct a new control centre, or implement a provisional mechanism to restore supply while a permanent solution was developed.
Speaking on Thursday, August 20, 2026, at the commissioning of the new Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) building in Accra, Mr. Jinapor said he chose the temporary measure to avoid keeping the plant offline for an extended period. “After the incident at Akosombo, we had two options—either shut the plant down completely to build a new control centre, which would have taken six months, or introduce a temporary mechanism to restore power. We opted for the latter,” he stated.
He explained that although the temporary system has helped maintain power supply over the past few months, it remains vulnerable to disturbances in the power system. “But because it’s a temporary measure, occasionally when there is some frequency disturbance, it takes off Akosobo immediately to protect the system,” he said.
Mr Jinapor said work on the permanent control centre is progressing and is expected to be completed next month. “The work that is being done to build the centre or the control room is expected to be completed just next month,” he said. His comments come after power outages affected parts of Accra and other parts of the country on Thursday morning.
The Energy Minister acknowledged the inconvenience caused by the disruption, saying some areas experienced outages lasting between one and one-and-a-half hours. “It’s true, today we had about a one-hour outage to about a one-and-a-half-hour outage for some parts of Accra and some parts of the country,” he said.
He, however, argued that the temporary interruptions were preferable to shutting down the Akosombo plant for six months. “But I can’t compare that to having six months of Akosombo perpetually down,” Mr Jinapor said. He assured affected customers that power restoration was underway and that the current situation would improve once the permanent control system is completed.
“I’m sure that by next month, we’ll sweep back to the original plan and we’ll have a much more resilient power supply situation,” he said. Mr Jinapor added that power had already been restored to almost all affected areas, with the remaining outages expected to be resolved shortly. “Those who haven’t gotten power yet, I can assure you, it’s very temporary. I mean, it will be restored as soon as possible,” he said.
Source:
Bernard Ralph Adams
