Akosombo recovery gains momentum with fourth unit

Ghana’s power recovery effort at the Akosombo Dam has reached another milestone, with a fourth-generation unit successfully brought back online late Monday evening, the latest sign of progress in the battle to restore electricity stability following a fire that knocked out more than 1,000 megawatts from the national grid.

Energy and Green Transition Minister Dr. John Abdulai Jinapor announced the development in a Facebook post on April 28, revealing that the fourth unit came back into operation at 9:09 pm, just hours after engineers had restored the third unit earlier that day.

“At 9:09pm, the fourth unit at Akosombo Dam was successfully brought into operation, an encouraging step that strengthens power generation and reflects the dedication and expertise of the team behind the effort,” he wrote.

The fire, which broke out at the Akosombo substation and gutted the control room, triggered widespread supply instability and intermittent outages across parts of the country. The phased restoration of units since then has been steady, with engineering teams working continuously to repair damaged infrastructure and return capacity to the grid.

Authorities say the sequential recovery of the affected units is expected to progressively improve generation output and bring greater reliability to the power system. The government has maintained that all necessary steps are being taken to achieve full operational recovery at the facility and prevent a recurrence of similar disruptions.

With four units now back in service, attention turns to the remaining capacity yet to be restored, and how quickly engineers can complete what has so far been a swift and closely watched recovery operation.