The Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo) has attributed Thursday morning’s widespread power outage to a major fault on the Akosombo–Volta transmission line, which triggered the automatic shutdown of generating units at the Akosombo Power Station and some thermal plants.
GRIDCo explained that the shutdown was activated by the National Interconnected Transmission System’s protection mechanisms to prevent further damage and safeguard the stability of the national power grid.
In a statement, the company said its engineers immediately responded to the incident by isolating the affected transmission line and working with other power sector agencies to begin the safe and systematic restoration of electricity.
“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,” the company said.
The fault resulted in widespread power outages across several parts of Ghana from about 4:30 a.m. on Thursday, August 20, 2026, affecting households, businesses and essential services.
In the Greater Accra Region, communities including Adabraka, Weija, Tesano, Achimota, Dzorwulu, Legon, Madina, Adenta and Oyarifa were among areas affected, with residents reporting interruptions from the early hours of the morning.
The outage also extended to parts of the Eastern, Northern, Central and Ashanti regions, including Aburi and Tamale.
GRIDCo said power had already been restored to some affected areas as of its update, while technical teams continued working to restore electricity to customers who remained without power.
The company apologised for the disruption and assured the public that all relevant technical teams had been mobilised to restore the national power system as quickly as possible.
“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 major disruption to Ghana’s national power system in less than a month.
On July 29, 2026, a widespread outage affected several parts of the country, including communities in Accra and Tema, Kasoa, as well as parts of the Ashanti and Eastern regions.
The recurrence of major outages could heighten concerns over the reliability and stability of Ghana’s electricity transmission network.
GRIDCo is expected to issue further updates as restoration efforts continue and more information becomes available on the cause and impact of the transmission line fault.
