Electricity access rate: Ghana places 1st in Sub-Saharan Africa

Ghana placed first in Sub-Saharan Africa with the largest electricity access rate.

According to the World Bank’s April 2023 Africa Pulse Report, the nation recorded about 81% access to electricity rate in 2021.

Ghana beat African power houses including South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria.

In 2015, the country’s access to electricity in Africa stood at about 75%. That still placed it number one on the continent.

Between 2015 and 2021, the country added a little over 5.0% power to the electricity access rate.

The World Bank’s Africa Pulse Report pointed out that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a sharp, adverse effect on access to electricity, adding, the pandemic eroded gains made in the preceding five years.

“The pandemic eroded gains made in the preceding five years—the number of people without access to electricity increased by 4% in 2021, compared to 2019. This was the result of compounding challenges, including one limited fiscal and financial capacity to develop new grid and off-gird connections by both governments and households and two lockdowns resulting in supply chain disruptions and other logistical disruptions”.

However, in Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, Senegal, and Côte d’Ivoire, the numbers were stable or reduced.

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The pandemic, it mentioned, had the largest effect on the installation of new stand-alone off-grid systems, as the majority of new connections since 2020 have been grid connections. Sales of independent solar home systems, including solar panels and batteries with a capacity of at least 20 watts, declined by roughly 20% in Sub-Saharan Africa between 2019 and 2021.

Meanwhile, Côte d’Ivoire and Kenya were ranked 2nd and 3rd respectively in Sub-Saharan Africa with the biggest electricity access rate.