The Chief Executive Officer of Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo) Ltd., Ing. Frank Asirifi Otchere says Ghana’s power sector reforms, particularly the unbundling of the transmission business, have significantly improved the country’s electricity transmission network.
Speaking on the topic, *”Understanding the Reform Landscape: What Has Changed Since 2019? From Evidence to Action: Reform Priorities for African Utilities,”* at the 60th Annual General Meeting of the Association of Power Utilities of Africa (APUA) in Accra, Otchere said GRIDCo was carved out of the Volta River Authority (VRA) in 2008 to manage the national transmission grid.
He said Ghana’s transmission network was largely obsolete before the creation of GRIDCo.
According to Otchere, GRIDCo’s immediate priorities after its establishment were to expand the transmission network and improve the reliability of the national grid.
“Since the creation of GRIDCo, the circuit kilometres of the transmission network have more than doubled. That is a testament to the impact of the reforms in the power sector,” he said.
Otchere said substantial investments had also been made to improve the reliability of the transmission system and enable the grid to evacuate electricity generated from renewable energy sources, particularly solar power.
As a result, he said, GRIDCo’s transmission network has been adjudged the best in West Africa.
Otchere said the reforms also opened the power generation segment to private sector participation, helping to increase generation capacity.
Despite the progress, he said, more work remains to strengthen the resilience of Ghana’s power sector and ensure it can meet growing electricity demand while supporting the country’s energy transition.
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