- Ghana Turns to Batteries to Close 700MW Peak Power Gap and Cut Idle Capacity Costs
Ghana is pushing battery storage towards the centre of its renewable-energy strategy as policymakers confront an electricity-demand gap of as much as 700MW between off-peak periods and the evening peak, a mismatch that risks forcing the country to maintain expensive generation capacity that sits underused for much of the day.
Minister for Energy and Green Transition Dr John Abdulai Jinapor has urged the Bui Power Authority to accelerate investment in battery-backed renewable energy, arguing that storage could allow Ghana to shift surplus daytime solar generation into the hours when households and businesses place the greatest pressure on the grid.
“The difference between the off-peak and the peak, which is in the night, is that it can rise to as much as 700 megawatts,” Dr Jinapor said at BPA’s annual stakeholders’ meeting in Accra. “So, if we don’t close that gap, what it means is that in the night, we’ll produce 700 megawatts and by daytime, that 700 megawatts become idle capacity that we have to pay for.”
The warning goes to the heart of a longstanding weakness in Ghana’s electricity economics. Building additional conventional generation primarily to satisfy a few hours of evening demand can increase fixed costs across the system even though that same capacity may be unnecessary during much of the day.
Battery Energy Storage Systems offer a different approach. Solar electricity generated during daylight hours can be stored and dispatched after sunset, potentially reducing the need to build or operate additional thermal generation solely to cover the evening surge.
“But if we can improve on battery-backed energy, we’ll use the daytime to store that power with the batteries,” Dr Jinapor said. “Then in the evening, we’ll be feeding about five hours of continuous energy.”
That could fundamentally change the economics of Ghana’s solar expansion. Solar installations can be deployed relatively quickly and generate electricity without imported fuel, but their output is naturally concentrated during daylight hours while Ghana’s system peak occurs later in the day.
Without storage, more solar does not necessarily solve that timing problem. It can increase total energy available to the system while still leaving grid operators searching for additional generation when demand reaches its highest point in the evening.
Battery storage effectively allows electricity to be moved across time. Rather than requiring every unit of solar generation to be consumed when it is produced, part of the output can be held and released when its value to the system is greater.
That flexibility could prove increasingly important as Ghana attempts to raise the share of renewables in its electricity mix without repeating the financial mistakes associated with overcontracting conventional generation.
Bui Power Authority is emerging as the principal testing ground for that transition. The Authority expanded its installed solar photovoltaic capacity from 55MWp to 105MWp in 2025, while electricity generation reached 1,438GWh, exceeding its annual target of 1,350GWh by 6.50%.
Its hydroelectric facilities maintained average availability of 95.00%, while BPA reported revenue of approximately US$145.90 million and net profit of about US$66.20 million. The combination of hydro and solar gives the Authority an unusual platform from which to build a more flexible renewable portfolio.
Chief Executive Ing. Kow Eduakwa Sam said BPA intends to add another roughly 100MWp of solar, lifting operational solar capacity to about 205MWp. More significantly, the Authority plans to develop 300MWp of dispatchable solar photovoltaic capacity integrated with large-scale battery storage by the end of 2028.
That ambition is more important than the headline capacity number suggests. A 300MW solar project paired with sufficiently sized storage is economically different from a conventional solar farm because the output can be timed more deliberately to meet system needs.
The project therefore points towards a change in BPA’s role. Historically identified principally with hydropower, the Authority is increasingly evolving towards a hybrid renewable producer combining water, solar and storage.
The technologies can complement one another. Solar can produce strongly during daylight hours, batteries can absorb surplus generation, and hydro can provide additional flexibility when renewable output changes.
If coordinated effectively, the combination could reduce pressure on thermal plants and Ghana’s exposure to fuel costs. It could also improve utilisation of transmission infrastructure by shifting energy away from periods when supply is abundant towards periods when the grid is under the greatest strain.
But batteries are not free electricity.
Large-scale storage requires substantial upfront capital, and its commercial case depends on factors including procurement costs, financing rates, battery degradation, expected lifespan, cycling frequency and the price difference between electricity when batteries charge and when they discharge.
A battery that is installed but rarely used efficiently can become another expensive piece of infrastructure. Ghana therefore has to ensure storage capacity is sized around actual system requirements rather than renewable-energy targets alone.
The 700MW peak gap provides an important starting point, but it does not automatically mean Ghana should purchase 700MW of batteries. Policymakers need to understand how long the evening peak lasts, how rapidly demand changes, what thermal and hydro flexibility already exists and what combination of storage durations delivers the lowest system cost.
Dr Jinapor’s reference to roughly five hours of stored supply is therefore important. Battery economics are increasingly determined not only by megawatts — how much power can be discharged at a particular moment — but by megawatt-hours, which measure how long that discharge can be sustained.
A 100MW battery capable of operating for one hour is fundamentally different from a 100MW system capable of sustaining output for five hours. Ghana’s procurement strategy will need to reflect that distinction if storage is to solve the specific evening-demand problem policymakers have identified.
Financing may prove equally challenging. BPA has already identified outstanding receivables from its principal electricity off-taker as a constraint on its investment programme, highlighting a contradiction at the centre of Ghana’s energy transition.
New renewable infrastructure cannot be sustainably financed if generators do not receive cash for electricity already supplied.
That means battery deployment cannot be separated from the wider financial reform of the electricity sector. Improvements in collection, payment discipline and the cash waterfall mechanism will matter just as much as improvements in lithium-ion technology.
A financially weak sector can make even technically sound renewable projects difficult to finance. Investors ultimately require confidence that power generated, stored and delivered will be paid for.
The government is therefore attempting to connect renewable expansion to the Energy Sector Recovery Programme and broader reforms intended to strengthen financial discipline across utilities.
Dr Jinapor has also pushed state-owned energy companies to prioritise scarce capital towards investments capable of producing measurable improvements in system performance rather than expanding expenditure without clear economic returns.
That discipline will become increasingly important as Ghana pursues its target of at least 10.00% renewable-energy penetration by 2030, excluding large hydro. Government estimates suggest renewables currently contribute only around 1.00% to 2.00%, leaving a substantial gap to close over the next four years.
“Government remains firmly committed to achieving at least ten percent renewable energy penetration in the national electricity generation mix by 2030, and every institution within the sector must align its programmes and investments with this national objective,” Dr Jinapor said.
Yet the more important objective may not be renewable capacity in isolation. Ghana’s power-sector history demonstrates that installed megawatts do not automatically translate into financially sustainable electricity.
The country has previously confronted the consequences of generation contracts that required payment even when capacity was not fully utilised. Battery storage offers a potential way of avoiding a similar mistake by increasing the usefulness of renewable capacity rather than merely adding more generation to the system.
That is what makes the 700MW evening gap so revealing. The problem is not necessarily that Ghana lacks enough electricity across the entire day; it is that electricity demand and electricity availability do not always occur at the same time.
Storage attacks that mismatch directly.
If Ghana can produce inexpensive solar power during the day, store part of it and release it through the evening peak, the country could reduce reliance on additional thermal capacity, lower fuel exposure and make better use of renewable investment.
But the economic outcome will depend on procurement discipline, financing and the health of the electricity value chain.
Battery storage can solve a timing problem. It cannot solve unpaid electricity bills, inefficient distribution, weak revenue collection or poorly designed contracts.
For BPA, the planned 300MWp dispatchable solar programme will therefore become more than another renewable project. It will be an important test of whether Ghana can successfully combine technology, system planning and financial discipline in a way that delivers electricity precisely when it is most valuable.
The distinction is crucial. Solar capacity without storage gives Ghana more energy during the day. Solar combined with well-designed storage gives Ghana something potentially more valuable: control over when that energy reaches the grid.
For a power system trying simultaneously to improve reliability, reduce costs and avoid another generation of idle-capacity liabilities, that flexibility may ultimately prove as important as the megawatts themselves.
