Ghana Emerges as West Africa’s Energy Hub with Strategic Gas-to-Power Initiative – Mahama

President of the Republic of Ghana H.E John Dramani Mahama, speaking at the Presidential Investment Forum on the side-lines of the TICAD 9 Conference in Yokohama, Japan, on Tuesday, August 19, 2025 stated that, Ghana is transforming into a regional energy powerhouse, building on decades of hydroelectric infrastructure while capitalizing on recent oil and gas discoveries to meet growing domestic demand and export surplus electricity across West Africa.

“One of the major growth areas for Ghana is in energy. And Ghana has a comparative advantage when it comes to energy production,” said a senior energy sector official during a recent briefing on the country’s power generation strategy.

President Mahama cited the nation’s energy foundation established by its first president, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah who spearheaded construction of the Akosombo hydroelectric dam.

“Our first president was the first to establish the Akosombo hydroelectric dam, which is 1020 megawatt hydroelectric power plant,” President Mahama noted, highlighting the visionary infrastructure that launched Ghana’s energy sector.

According to President Mahama Ghana subsequently expanded its renewable capacity with additional facilities.

“We have subsequently had other hydro plants, including the Pong hydroelectric power plant and then the Bui hydroelectric power plant. So there are three of them,” He explained.

However, economic growth soon outpaced hydroelectric capacity.

“After a while, we realized that these hydro plants were not enough to supply the energy needs of Ghana, and so we went into thermal production,” President Mahama said.

The transition to thermal power generation aligned perfectly with major resource discoveries.

“The good news is that once we went into thermal production, side by side, we discovered huge quantities of oil and gas, and we took a decision to utilize the gas for power production,” He revealed.

He emphasized that, Ghana has implemented a comprehensive gas-to-power policy to maximize these resources.

“We have a gas to power policy, and so our thermal plants are being run on gas. We’re bringing new gas fields into operation,” President Mahama confirmed.

The country’s strategic position within regional energy markets has created export opportunities through the West African Power Pool.

“Because we are members of the West African Power Pool, energy transmission systems are interconnected with our neighboring countries,” He added.

This interconnected infrastructure enables profitable power exports.

“Any excess of power we’re able to produce we can evacuate and sell to our neighboring countries because we have a comparative advantage when it comes to power, our cost is much lower than they can produce it themselves using fuel oil,” He stressed.

Ghana’s integrated approach positions the nation as both a reliable domestic energy provider and a key contributor to West Africa’s energy security.