The Volta River Authority (VRA) was established on April 26, 1961 under the Volta River Development Act, Act 46 of the Republic of Ghana, as a body corporate with the mandate to operate mainly as a power generation, transmission and distribution utility. In 2005, following the promulgation of a major amendment to the VRA Act in the context of the Ghana Government Power Sector Reforms, the VRA's mandate has now been largely restricted to generation of electricity. The transmission function has been hived off into a separate entity, designated National Grid Company to perform the transmission activities. During this process of transition, the VRA is planning to operate its distribution agency, the Northern Electricity Department (NED) as a subsidiary company to merge with the Electricity Company of Ghana into a single distribution utility after the transmission period. The amendment has a key function of creating the requisite environment to attract independent power producers (IPPs) onto the Ghana energy market.

VRA has other responsibilities in furtherance of its corporate mandate. These include Lake Transportation, Tourism, Maritime administration of the Volta Lake, Lakeside Health and Management of the Akosombo Township.

Power Activities

The Authority operates a total installed electricity generation capacity of 1,730MW. This is made up of two hydroelectric plants on the Volta River, with installed capacities of 1,020MW and 160MW at the Akosombo and Kpong Generating Stations, respectively, and complemented by a 330MW Combined Cycle Thermal Plant at Aboadze, near Takoradi. A further 220MW Thermal Plant, Takoradi International Company (TICO) is owned as a joint venture with TAQA, from Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. The plant, which is being operated in a simple cycle mode is being converted into a 330MW combined cycle plant, and thus bring the installed thermal generation capacity at Takoradi to 660MW.