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Ghana Electrical Power
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Hydroelectric sluices in the Akosombo Dam
Courtesy Embassy of Ghana, Washington
In 1994 Ghana's total generating capacity was about 1,187
megawatts, and annual production totalled approximately 4,490
million kilowatts. The main source of supply is the Volta River
Authority with six 127-megawatt turbines. The authority's power
plant at Akosombo provides the bulk of all electricity consumed in
Ghana, some 60 percent of which is purchased by Valco for its
smelter. The power plant also meets most of the energy needs of
Togo and Benin, which amounted to an estimated equivalent of
180,000 tons of oil in 1991. The balance of Ghana's electricity is
produced by diesel units owned by the Electricity Corporation of
Ghana, by mining companies, and by a 160-megawatt hydroelectric
plant at Kpong, about 40 kilometers downstream from Akosombo. A
third dam at Bui on the Black Volta River has been under study for
some time, with the aim of increasing power supplies in northern
Ghana or of selling power to Côte d'Ivoire and Burkina Faso
(Burkina, formerly Upper Volta). There have been difficulties,
however, in raising the funds needed for the 450-megawatt
generating plant. Other sites with the potential for power
generation, on the Pra River, the Tano River, the White Volta
River, and the Ankobra River, would also require substantial
investment.
Ghana has attempted to increase distribution of its electricity
throughout the country. One program, funded by the World Bank's
International Development Association, will provide reliable and
widespread electricity in the urban and southern parts of the
country. In addition, the extension of the national grid to the
Northern Region was commissioned in 1989. The extension links
northern Ghana to the power generated from the Akosombo Dam.
The second phase of the extension will connect major towns in
Upper East Region with the regional capital, Bolgatanga, at a cost
of US$100 million. The final phase will see exports of electricity
across the northern border to Burkina. In early 1991, furthermore,
the International Development Association announced a loan to the
Electricity Corporation of Ghana to finance the supply and
expansion of electricity networks in the northwestern areas of
Accra. The corporation aims to extend the supply of electricity to
all isolated centers where diesel is the main source of power.
Plans were also afoot to increase the supply of electricity by
utilization of thermal energy. Construction was anticipated by late
1994 on the country's first thermal power generating plant near
Takoradi. Scheduled for completion in 1997, the plant will
contribute 300 megawatts of electricity to the national grid.
Ghana has a National Nuclear Research Institute which trains
undergraduate and postgraduate students in the techniques of
nuclear science application in such areas as agriculture, medicine,
and research. In late 1994, work was nearing completion on a
nuclear reactor at Kwabenyan, near Accra, to be used to aid
research in these fields. In addition, a second nuclear physics
center is to be established in Kumasi on the recommendation of the
Ghana Atomic Energy Commission.
Data as of November 1994
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