Ghana’s Minister for Energy and Green Transition, Dr John Abdulai Jinapor, has said Africa’s industrial transformation will require reliable electricity, affordable power, resilient grids, financially viable utilities and sustainable contracts, as well as policies that convert the continent’s resources into industry, jobs and prosperity.
Jinapor said Africa’s future also depended on stronger collaboration among governments, investors, development finance institutions, utilities, technology providers, academia and civil society.
“Our objective must not simply be to finance more energy infrastructure. It must be to build an African energy system capable of powering an industrial, competitive and prosperous continent,” Jinapor said in a keynote speech at the Future of Energy Conference 2026, organised by the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) in Accra.
He said reliable, affordable and scalable electricity was essential for manufacturing, mineral processing, value addition and job creation.
“Africa must mobilise the right investments, strengthen policy coordination and build energy systems that can support value addition, manufacturing and jobs,” he said.
Jinapor said the continent’s energy challenge now extended beyond connecting households to electricity and must also address the power needs of factories, industrial clusters and other productive sectors capable of deepening local value chains and reducing dependence on raw commodity exports.
The two-day conference, held under the theme “Powering Africa’s Industrial Transformation: Energy Systems for Value Addition and Competitiveness”, brought together government officials, innovators, investors, academics, regulators and energy professionals from across Africa.
Jinapor said industrialisation required electricity at scale, with reliable supply, predictable tariffs and good power quality.
Ghana’s electricity consumption rose to 25,836 GWh in 2025, about 4.7% higher than in 2024, he said.
To meet rising electricity demand while ensuring affordability, the government has enacted the Energy Commission (Planning and Competitive Procurement of Additional Electricity Generation Capacity) Regulations, 2025, L.I. 2508, which provides a framework for the competitive procurement of new generation capacity and aims to secure value for money.
“Generation must be procured based on need, cost and value for money, in the interests of the economy, consumers and the long-term sustainability of the sector,” Jinapor said.
On reforms in the energy sector, he said the government had renegotiated agreements with independent power producers, securing about $252 million in savings while protecting investor confidence and preserving the sanctity of contracts.
“We have cleared approximately $1.47 billion in legacy energy sector debt. We have strengthened the Cash Waterfall Mechanism, increasing declared sector payments from approximately GH¢6 billion to approximately GH¢15 billion. We have also restored the $500 million World Bank Partial Risk Guarantee for the Sankofa Gas Project,” he said.
Benjamin Boakye, Executive Director of ACEP, said Africa’s energy future depended on the credibility of reforms, investor confidence and policy consistency.
He warned that weak regulation and unpredictable market conditions continued to discourage capital inflows into the energy sector.
“Investment will only come where there is predictability, transparency and a clear path to recovery for capital,” Boakye said.
“If we want an energy system that serves industrial growth, then we must design market rules that are fair, credible and sustainable.”
He said energy planning must be grounded in realism, taking into account utility finances, the cost of capital and the need to build systems capable of supporting long-term development.
Cloudine Sagam of the Africa Miners Development Centre also stressed the link between energy and mining, saying mineral beneficiation and local value addition could not succeed without dependable and competitively priced electricity.
“The mining sector cannot talk about value addition without talking about energy,” she said. “If Africa wants to process more of its own minerals, then it must ensure stable, affordable electricity for industry and mining operations.”
She said Africa’s mineral wealth presented a major opportunity for industrialisation, but that opportunity would remain limited unless governments aligned energy policy with mining policy, infrastructure planning and industrial development objectives.
The conference ended with calls for integrated planning, stronger governance and financing frameworks capable of attracting private capital while protecting the public interest.
More than 400 participants from the energy, mining, policy and investment sectors attended the two-day conference in Accra.
The discussions reinforced a central message for Ghana and the wider continent: energy is not simply a sectoral issue but a foundation for industrial transformation, job creation and economic competitiveness.
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