GRIDCo, ECG blame major blackout on construction mishap near Nkawkaw

A widespread power outage affected much of Ghana on Thursday, May 1. The outage was linked to a tipper truck accident near a key transmission line. This information comes from a joint statement by GRIDCo and ECG.

The blackout occurred at 1:42 p.m. A tipper truck was discharging stones at a construction site. It accidentally lifted its bucket into a high-voltage conductor.

This collision caused significant damage to the transmission infrastructure. It triggered a cascading failure across the national grid.

According to the statement, all power plants at Aboadze and Anwomaso tripped. This cut off supply to Western, Central, and Northern regions, as well as parts of Accra.

The statement was signed by Dzifa Bampoh from GRIDCo and William Boateng from ECG.

In response, engineers from both agencies were quickly sent to the site for repairs. Restoration work began immediately with plans to restore full power by 6:00 p.m.

GRIDCo and ECG apologized to affected customers for the inconvenience. They asked for patience as engineers worked to stabilize the national grid.

The incident left residential and industrial users without power for hours. It raised public concern about Ghana’s fragile power infrastructure and risks from unregulated construction near transmission lines.