Parts of Greater Accra experience 15-hour power outage as GRIDCo repairs damaged Ashaiman transmission tower
The Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo) has announced an emergency power outage in parts of the Greater Accra Region on Sunday, August 16, 2026, to facilitate the replacement of a damaged transmission tower at Ashaiman.
A fuel tanker explosion caused a 14-hour power outage on Sunday, 16 August 2026, affecting Ashaiman and large parts of Accra. The incident occurred at the Ashaiman Middle East Right-of-Way along the 161 kV Tema–Achimota transmission line, operated by Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo). The blast damaged a steel lattice tower, which engineers are now dismantling and replacing to restore structural integrity and secure the transmission corridor.
GRIDCo did not name specific neighborhoods, only stating that "some locations in the Greater Accra Region" would be affected. A list circulating on social media included neighborhoods such as Osu Oxford Street, Nima, James Town, Kaneshie, Cantonments, and Madina. The outage impacts various sectors, including small retailers, bars, restaurants, markets, and industrial businesses, causing potential revenue losses and logistics delays.
The incident highlights the importance of grid reliability and safety, especially in African urban power systems, and the broader implications of regional interconnections for infrastructure development and donor-funded projects.
Written by urgent.news from The Rio Times's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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