GRIDCo Explains Cause of Widespread Power Outage as Restoration Continues

The Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo) has attributed the widespread power outage experienced across parts of Ghana in the early hours of Thursday, August 20, 2026, to a major fault on the Akosombo–Volta transmission line.

The disruption occurred at approximately 4:30 a.m., resulting in the loss of electricity supply to several parts of the country and leaving households, businesses and other facilities without power.

In a press statement issued on Thursday, August 20, GRIDCo said the fault triggered the automatic tripping of the Akosombo generating units as well as some thermal generating plants.

The company explained that the automatic shutdown was activated by the power system’s protection mechanisms as a safety measure to protect the integrity and stability of Ghana’s National Interconnected Transmission System (NITS).

According to GRIDCo, the protection mechanisms are designed to respond automatically to serious faults within the transmission network in order to prevent the disturbance from causing further instability across the national power system.

The Akosombo–Volta transmission line is an important part of Ghana’s electricity transmission network. The fault on the line caused the national power system to experience a major disturbance shortly after 4:30 a.m.

As a result, the protection system automatically disconnected the Akosombo generating units and some thermal plants.

GRIDCo said this action subsequently led to a loss of power supply in affected areas.

The company stressed that the automatic tripping was part of the system’s protective response and was intended to safeguard the wider transmission network rather than allow the fault to compromise the stability of the national grid.

Immediately after the incident, GRIDCo engineers began working with other agencies within the power sector to contain the disturbance and restore electricity supply.

The affected transmission line was isolated, allowing technical teams to commence a safe and systematic restoration of the power system.

GRIDCo said power supply had already been restored to some affected areas by the time of its statement, while restoration work was continuing to reconnect customers who remained without electricity.

The company said the restoration process was being undertaken carefully to ensure that electricity supply could be returned without compromising the stability and safety of the national grid.

“Power supply has already been restored to some affected areas,” GRIDCo stated, adding that restoration efforts were progressing steadily to restore supply to all remaining affected customers as quickly and safely as possible.

GRIDCo assured the public that all relevant technical teams had been fully mobilised to deal with the situation.

The company said its engineers were working with urgency to achieve complete restoration of the power system and reconnect all customers affected by the disturbance.

It also said it would continue monitoring the system while restoration activities progressed.

The transmission company expressed regret over the inconvenience caused by the temporary outage.

GRIDCo acknowledged the disruption the loss of electricity could cause to households, businesses and other electricity users and appealed to the public for patience, understanding and cooperation while engineers worked to restore normal supply.

The company further assured the public that updates would be provided as additional information became available.

Thursday’s incident is significant because it comes less than a month after another major disturbance on Ghana’s national power system.

On July 29, 2026, Ghana also experienced a widespread power outage after a system disturbance affected the National Interconnected Transmission System. That incident occurred at about 3:11 a.m. and resulted in electricity interruptions across several parts of the country.

The recurrence of major power disruptions within a short period has renewed public attention on the reliability and stability of Ghana’s power transmission system.

However, in Thursday’s incident, GRIDCo has specifically identified the fault on the Akosombo–Volta transmission line as the immediate cause of the latest system disturbance.

GRIDCo has not indicated that the latest disruption is a planned nationwide outage. Rather, it described the incident as a major fault that triggered the automatic operation of the national power system’s protection mechanisms.

The company’s immediate priority is therefore to restore supply in stages while ensuring the transmission network remains stable.

Some affected customers have already been reconnected, while others were still awaiting restoration as engineers continued their work.

GRIDCo said it would provide further updates as restoration efforts progress.

The company also urged the public to remain patient and cooperate with the relevant power sector agencies until full restoration is achieved.

The statement was issued by the Corporate Communications Section of Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo) on Thursday, August 20, 2026.

GRIDCo said the national power system experienced a major fault at approximately 4:30 a.m. on the Akosombo–Volta transmission line.

It explained that the resulting automatic tripping of the Akosombo generating units and some thermal generating plants was part of the system’s protection mechanisms aimed at safeguarding the integrity and stability of the National Interconnected Transmission System.

The company said its engineers immediately worked with other power sector agencies to isolate the affected transmission line and commence safe and systematic restoration.

GRIDCo confirmed that supply had already been restored to some affected areas and that efforts were continuing to restore power to all remaining affected customers.

The company apologised for the inconvenience and assured the public that its technical teams had been fully mobilised and were working urgently towards complete restoration.

It concluded by assuring the public that further updates would be issued as more information became available and thanked customers for their patience, understanding and cooperation.