President John Dramani Mahama has announced that the government will this year cut sod for the commencement of the construction of a 1,200-megawatt electricity generation plant as part of efforts to expand Ghana’s power generation capacity to meet growing national demand.
The project, President Mahama explained forms part of a broader strategy by the government to address increasing electricity consumption and ensure redundancy in the country’s power supply system.
Speaking at the Resetting Ghana Citizen Engagement on Saturday, May 2, he noted that Ghana’s peak electricity demand has risen significantly due to increased investment and economic activity.
“Looking at how the country is growing, the consumption of electricity is growing. When we came to power, the consumption was 3,500 megawatts but currently the consumption at peak has gotten to 4,300 megawatts and that is because there is more investment in town and that demand for electricity has become high, so meaning we have to add more generation so that we can get redundancy,” he stated.
He explained that the Ministries of Energy and Finance have already developed a roadmap for the project, adding that beyond meeting domestic demand, excess power generated could be exported to neighbouring countries such as Burkina Faso to earn foreign exchange.
“By God’s grace, this year we will cut sod for its commencement,” he added.
