Director of Procurement at the Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo), Benjamin Kingsford Ntsin, is urging increased private sector investment in transmission infrastructure to strengthen power distribution nationwide and within Africa.

Speaking at the West Africa Energy Cooperation Summit, he stressed that such investments are vital to advancing regional power integration across West African countries.

The West Africa Energy Cooperation Summit brought together energy regulators, policymakers, and private sector players to discuss strategies for advancing regional power trade and expanding transmission infrastructure.

The summit also highlighted the importance of accelerating private sector participation in off-grid and distributed energy markets as part of efforts to close the energy access gap across the sub-region.

In an interview, Director of Procurement at the Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo), Benjamin Kingsford Ntsin said the private sector contribution is necessary to enhance energy distribution.

“If you have all of the power plant without transmission infrastructure, the power will not get to the distributor who distributes to our homes so we need the private sector to support the energy sector”, he said.

On his part, Chief Financial Officer of Cenpower Generation, Peter James urged greater prioritization of regional power transmission projects in West Africa, stressing that this is essential for ensuring reliable and consistent power supply.

Council Member of ECOWAS Regional Electricity Regulatory Authority, Charles Ndiaye says plans are underway to launch a harmonized framework to monitor the cross-border electricity transactions across the sub-region.

The summit provides an opportunity for players to mobilise finance and support deeper collaboration across the ECOWAS regional integration agenda and Ghana’s ambition to be a regional energy distribution hub.