Accra: Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo) has disclosed that a lightning strike caused the widespread power outage that affected many parts of the country on July 29, 2026.
According to Ghana Web, a post by Ghanaian journalist Berla Mundi on July 30, 2026, highlighted that Richmond Rockson, the Head of Communications at the Ministry of Energy and Green Transition, shared this update. Richmond Rockson stated, "Per our briefing from GRIDCo, preliminary investigations revealed that the widespread power outage was caused by a lightning strike. We await further briefing from them."
The outage began in the early hours of July 29, 2026, following a power system disturbance on the National Interconnected Transmission System around 3:11 am. This disturbance caused multiple generating plants to trip simultaneously, leading to the extensive blackout that affected millions.
GRIDCo reported that it activated emergency restoration procedures and collaborated with power sector stakeholders to restore electricity while initiating a thorough technical investigation. Residents across the nation reported prolonged blackouts lasting over 18 hours in some areas, with interruptions occurring even after initial restoration efforts.
In response to the incident, GRIDCo issued a statement apologising for the inconvenience caused and pledged to provide further updates as more details become available from the ongoing investigation.