Ghana Power Generation Outlook for 2025
Ghana continues to make significant progress in its effort at electrifying the entire country as it recognizes the importance of a stable and reliable energy supply to its effort at industrialization. Ghana already has one of the highest universal access to electricity rates on the African continent. In 2024, as part of its Rural Electrification Program, the Ghanaian Government connected 276 rural communities to the National Grid, increasing the access rate from 88.95% to 89.03%. The plan is to reach an access rate of 90% by the end of 2025.
Despite these impressive statistics, Ghana still grapples with serious challenges within this sector. The ability to provide consistent and affordable electricity to Ghanaians and industry remains, as new President Mahama expressed in the February 2025 State of the Nation (SONA), “an existential threat to Ghana’s economy.” The unreliability of power supply from the grid has been a persistent problem for several years. To improve stability in the middle and northern parts of Ghana, in 2024, the Ghanaian Government relocated all ten units of the Africa and Middle East Resource Investment (AMERI) thermal plant to the middle of the country. Six units are already operational, and the additional four units should be operational in 2025 to utilize the full potential of the 250 MW plant. The Mahama Government announced that it will strive to use 100% gas for power generation, reducing the importation of crude oil and other fuels for generation.
By far the biggest challenge has been in the distribution chain where the main entity, the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), has grappled with inefficiencies, resulting in high operational losses. President Mahama pledged to enforce a single revenue collection account, strictly adhere to the cash waterfall mechanism that allocates revenues among independent power producers and other stakeholders, as well as and reducing wasteful expenditures at the ECG. In the March 2025 Budget Statement, the Government announced that it created a committee to evaluate the potential for private sector participation in the revitalization of ECG. Further, the World Bank has approved a $250 million facility approved in 2024 aimed at improving efficiency in the sector (see our Market Intelligence reporting on Smart Meters). The latter two efforts present important opportunities for U.S. companies involved in this sector.
Further, in the SONA, President Mahama announced a new Renewable Energy and Green Transition Fund to facilitate the installation of solar streetlights, rooftop solar, off grid solar systems, and charging stations. For U.S. companies operating in the renewable energy sector, plans in 2025 to construct 35 mini grids and supply of 381 solar home systems for public facilities in off-grid communities in various parts of the country also represent opportunities for doing business in Ghana.
To find out more about Ghana’s power generation sector, please contact PaaEkow Quansah at paaekow.quansah@trade.gov or office.accra@trade.gov Please see Commercial Service Ghana’s other market intelligence reporting here.