Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo) has disclosed that a lightning strike caused the widespread power outage that affected many parts of the country on July 29, 2026.

According to a post by Ghanaian journalist Berla Mundi on July 30, 2026, Head of Communications at the Ministry of Energy and Green Transition, Richmond Rockson, shared the update.

“Per our briefing from GRIDCo, preliminary investigations revealed that the widespread power outage was caused by a lightning strike. We await further briefing from them,” she said.

The outage began in the early hours of July 29, 2026, following a power system disturbance on the National Interconnected Transmission System around 3:11 am, which caused multiple generating plants to trip simultaneously.

Ghana hit by nationwide blackout as power plants fail

According to GRIDCo, it activated emergency restoration procedures and worked with power sector stakeholders to bring electricity back online while launching a full technical investigation.

Many residents reported prolonged blackouts lasting over 18 hours in some areas, with some areas experiencing further interruptions.

GRIDCo, in a statement, apologised for the inconvenience and pledged to provide further updates as more details emerge from the investigation.

See post here.

“Per our briefing from GRIDCo,preliminary investigations revealed that the widespread power outage was caused by a lightening strike. We await further briefing from them” - Richmond Rockson. Head of Comms, Ministry of Energy and Green Transition#Tv3NewDay

— B.You by Berla Mundi (@berlamundi) July 30, 2026