The Ministry of Energy has announced the temporary shutdown of the Akosombo Dam following a major fire incident at the Ghana Grid Company substation in Akosombo, which has disrupted electricity supply nationwide.

Officials say the blaze caused severe damage to key installations at the substation, leaving authorities with no option but to suspend operations at the dam.

Speaking in an interview on Monday, April 27, the Ministry’s spokesperson, Richmond Rockson, outlined the extent of the damage and its impact on power generation.

He explained that the fire destroyed the dam’s switchgear system, making it impossible to continue operations and prompting the immediate shutdown.

“The switch yard, which is at the Akosombo Substation, is completely burnt down and it is not salvageable. The primary control room for the switch yard is completely gone. It was even difficult for us to walk there when we got there to assess the situation

“And when that happened, we had to shut the Akosombo Dam completely and so that is what caused the outages in many parts of the country as we are seeing. Because Akosombo is a major component when it comes to our power generation.”