Energy Analyst and Executive Director of the Centre for Environmental Management and Sustainable Energy (CEMSE), Ben Nsiah, has cautioned that Ghana risks a nationwide blackout if authorities fail to urgently invest in the country’s electricity transmission infrastructure following the July 29, 2026 power system disturbance.

He noted that while Ghana has made significant investments in generation and distribution, the transmission network which links the entire power system has not received equal attention, leaving the country vulnerable to major disruptions.

“A major unforeseen incident on the transmission network could collapse the national electricity system and trigger severe economic and social consequences,” he warned, as cited by Channel One TV.

Nsiah stressed that strengthening the transmission backbone is critical to ensuring reliability, protecting recent gains in power generation, and safeguarding Ghana’s economic stability.

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"If in an unexpected circumstance, if a very large occurrence maybe happens, what it means is that the whole of the country is likely going to be out of power and I think that that should be a worry," he said.

He mentioned that the recent power system disturbance should serve as a reminder for authorities to strengthen the country's transmission infrastructure to improve the resilience of the national grid.

"So yes, we must worry, but I think the major responsibility lies on us now to address some of these unforeseen circumstances so that the country doesn't go off or is not knocked out of power to cause both socioeconomic and macroeconomic impact," he added.

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His comments come after the Ghana Grid Company Limited announced that the National Interconnected Transmission System experienced a power system disturbance at approximately 3:11 a.m on Wednesday.

According to GRIDCo, the disturbance caused the simultaneous tripping of some power generation plants, resulting in interruptions to electricity supply in parts of the country.

The company said it immediately activated its established system restoration procedures, with engineers and system operators working alongside key stakeholders to safely restore electricity supply.

DR/SA

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