Akosombo Dam

Akosombo Dam is a hydroelectric dam on Ghana’s Volta River. Completed in 1965, it impounds Lake Volta, one of the world’s largest artificial lakes by surface area.

Hydroelectricity: Electricity generated by converting the energy of moving or falling water. The dam’s turbines convert stored water’s descent into electrical power.
Kwame Nkrumah: Ghanaian independence leader and the country’s first president, serving from 1960 to 1966. Nkrumah championed the dam as a foundation for national industrialization.
Volta Aluminium Company: An aluminum smelter at Tema, Ghana, established to process imported alumina using electricity from Akosombo. The smelter became a major industrial customer for the dam’s power.
Resettlement in Ghana: The relocation of communities within Ghana in response to development projects, land changes, or other pressures. Lake Volta’s creation displaced tens of thousands of people from their homes.
Kpong Dam: A hydroelectric dam on the lower Volta River in Ghana, downstream from Akosombo. Kpong is a smaller downstream project that uses water released from Akosombo.
Lake Volta: A large reservoir in Ghana formed by damming the Volta River. Akosombo Dam holds back the water that forms this reservoir.
Volta River Project: A Ghanaian development project centered on damming the Volta River and producing hydroelectric power. Akosombo Dam was the project’s central infrastructure.
Electricity Company of Ghana: A Ghanaian utility responsible for distributing electricity to consumers. It distributes power generated at Akosombo to customers across Ghana.
Akosombo Dam resettlement: The relocation of communities displaced by the creation of Lake Volta in the 1960s. This program addressed the human costs of flooding the reservoir area.
Bui Dam: A hydroelectric dam on Ghana’s Black Volta River, completed in 2013. Bui provides a later Ghanaian comparison to Akosombo’s earlier, larger Volta project.

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