The Minister for Energy, Dr. John Jinapor, has confirmed his intention to visit the site of the Ghana Grid Company’s (GRIDCo) Akosombo Substation following a fire incident that resulted in considerable damage to the facility.
The event transpired at around 2:01 p.m. on Thursday, April 23, when the substation, a crucial component of Ghana’s power transmission network, was consumed by flames under circumstances that have yet to be fully clarified.
The fire raised urgent concerns regarding the stability of the electricity supply and the safety of essential infrastructure within the nation’s energy sector.
In an interview conducted on Friday, April 24, the Head of Communications at the Energy Ministry, Richmond Rockson, provided an update on the situation and detailed the immediate actions taken in response to the fire incident.
“Engineers were promptly mobilized to assess the field situation and provide us with a briefing. As a precautionary measure, we decided to shut down all units to safeguard the systems and personnel present on-site.
“I can confirm this morning that the Minister of Energy will visit the site, accompanied by officials from the Energy Commission, the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission, and other stakeholders in the power sector to receive a comprehensive briefing and take further actions based on the information they will gather.”
The Ghana Grid Company Limited, widely recognized as GRIDCo, is pivotal in transmitting electricity from power generation facilities to distribution companies throughout the nation. Consequently, any disruption at one of its major substations could significantly impact power delivery to residential, business, and industrial customers.
In the wake of the incident, engineers and technical teams were dispatched rapidly to the location to assess the damage and ensure that suitable emergency measures were implemented to manage the situation.
