The Institute for Energy Security (IES) says the Electricity Company of Ghana’s (ECG) investment of about GH¢200 million in system upgrades and maintenance must ultimately translate into improved reliability of power supply.

Research & Energy Security Analyst at IES, Smith Boahene, said the recent nationwide power outages raise questions about the resilience of Ghana’s electricity infrastructure and the effectiveness of ongoing maintenance efforts.

His comments follow two major power disruptions recorded within the past few weeks, with the latest outage attributed by GRIDCo to a fault around the Akosombo transmission line.

Mr Buahin said the recurrence of such incidents at different points in the electricity value chain—generation, transmission and distribution—warrants a critical assessment of the system.

He identified deferred maintenance, underinvestment and equipment obsolescence as possible factors that could be contributing to the challenges confronting the power sector.

“ECG, for example, has spent about 200 million Ghana cedis to help in the upgrade of this maintenance but if the system operator does not come out with exactly what the challenges have been in the sector in the last four to six weeks or so, it will be difficult for us to also follow along how the development in the grid operation has been,” he said.

The IES is consequently advocating an investigation into the two recent national outages to identify the underlying problems and prevent a recurrence.