Accra: The Africa Sustainable Energy Centre (ASEC) has emphasized that the recent fire at the Akosombo Substation was a preventable incident, highlighting it as a consequence of engineering and structural shortcomings that should have never escalated to such a magnitude.
According to Ghana Web, the investigative committee's report concluded that the fire was caused by insulation failure linked to ageing infrastructure, dismissing any notion of sabotage. ASEC has expressed serious concerns over the incident, stressing the urgent need to address the significant weaknesses in Ghana's power transmission infrastructure.
ASEC's statement, issued on Friday, June 12, 2026, outlines clear lessons from the Akosombo incident, urging a transition from reactive maintenance to predictive technologies. The organization advocates for improved protection coordination, enhanced fire suppression capabilities, and the introduction of robust redundancy across the grid, emphasizing that the reliability of Ghana's power system heavily depends on these measures.
The Centre's findings point to several technical deficiencies that contributed to the fire, underscoring the necessity for immediate reforms across the electricity transmission network. ASEC suggests making Infrared (IR) thermographic inspections standard practice for substations, transformers, and cable systems to detect potential issues before they escalate into significant failures.
ASEC also calls for the installation of modern fire detection and automatic suppression systems at critical transmission facilities nationwide. The rapid spread of the fire, the Centre notes, underscores weaknesses in current fire response mechanisms, advocating for substations equipped to detect and suppress fires within seconds of ignition.
The think tank urges GRIDCo and other stakeholders to prioritize redundancy in power infrastructure design and operation. This includes implementing backup protection systems, alternative transmission pathways, secondary power supplies, and emergency control facilities to prevent minor faults from escalating into national power emergencies.
ASEC strongly recommends shifting from reactive maintenance practices to predictive maintenance, leveraging technologies like artificial intelligence, thermal imaging analytics, and asset health management platforms to support this transition. The organization warns that ageing infrastructure and deteriorating assets pose significant risks to Ghana's electricity network, necessitating proactive measures.
Highlighting additional concerns, ASEC points to inadequate protection systems at the substation, where a transformer continued to feed the fault after another had tripped. This, according to ASEC, indicates shortcomings in protection coordination and fault management systems.
They call on authorities to seize this incident as an opportunity to build a safer, more reliable, and future-ready electricity system, reinforcing the importance of addressing these issues promptly and effectively.