Fix power sector finances to end dumsor – Netherlands-based Ghanaian energy infrastructure leader urges

Ghanaian-Netherlands-based engineer and energy professional, Owura Yeboah, has urged policymakers to make the country’s power sector financially sustainable, warning that infrastructure investments alone could not guarantee reliable electricity without sound financial management.

He noted that improving cost recovery, protecting low-income consumers through targeted support and ensuring that electricity buyers could meet their payment obligations were essential to restoring confidence in the sector.

“To policymakers: make the power sector able to pay for itself. Fix cost recovery, protect the poorest in a targeted way, and back the buyer’s payment so lenders believe in it. Nothing else we build will last without that,” he said in an interview with the Daily Graphic.

His comments highlight the importance of financial reforms in addressing Ghana’s power sector challenges and preventing a recurrence of dumsor, the intermittent power outages that has affected households and businesses.

With over a decade of experience in energy infrastructure, heavy-lift logistics and offshore wind projects, Mr Yeboah said his work across Europe and the Middle East had taught him that engineering expertise alone did not determine which projects were built.

“Capital does,” he emphasised. Mr Yeboah holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth in the United States, which shows stemmed from his growing appreciation of the relationship between infrastructure development and finance.

He subsequently gained investment banking experience at Bank of America Securities, working on power and infrastructure transactions involving renewable energy, battery storage and nuclear power.

Mr Yeboah observed that Ghana had considerable potential to expand its energy infrastructure but needed to build investor confidence and adapt international models to local economic conditions.

“What doesn’t transfer is the finance. In the Gulf and Europe, the buyer can pay, and the rules are stable.

Ghana has to create that confidence first, and imported models must be adapted, with smaller projects, local content and local currency,” he explained.

Drawing on his experience at Seaway7 on Dogger Bank, a 3.6-gigawatt (GW) offshore wind farm, Mr Yeboah said effective project management could significantly reduce costs and improve the value of infrastructure investments.

He led interface management on the project, where a review of the original specifications and installation plan with 10 specialist engineers uncovered discrepancies. The team subsequently developed an alternative approach that saved $25 million, about 10 per cent of the cost.

Foundation installation on the project has since been completed.

“The lesson for Ghana is that money is often lost in the gaps between contracts, not in the technology,” he said.

He also cited his work with Van Oord on the approximately 1GW Hollandse Kust offshore wind farm in the Netherlands and his contribution to developing a solution that secured a $110 million subsea cable contract in Taiwan.

He noted that Taiwan’s experience showed how countries could develop new industries by partnering experienced international companies with local expertise and supply chains.

Mr Yeboah said Ghana could adopt a similar approach to renewable energy development, provided partnerships were designed to build domestic capacity and deliver lasting benefits.

He said the country had the natural resources, skilled people and diaspora expertise to expand its energy infrastructure but needed to turn those advantages into projects that could be financed, delivered and sustained.

He also pointed to renewable energy plans and growing electricity demand, including from data centres, as opportunities for Ghana to attract investment and support industrial development.

Mr Yeboah said he hoped to bring the knowledge gained abroad to Ghana and other underserved regions in West Africa to help address energy poverty.

For him, reliable electricity is fundamental to economic participation, industrial development and Africa’s ability to contribute to global advances in areas such as climate change and artificial intelligence.

“None of that is possible without reliable power,” he stressed.

Mr Yeboah’s career illustrates the value of combining technical expertise with an understanding of finance, project management and commercial decision-making.

From aerospace and offshore engineering to international infrastructure projects and investment banking, his experience has spanned several areas that influence whether major energy projects progress from design to completion.