MONROVIA – The Minister of Mines & Energy has laid out the progress the country has made in overcoming constraints in the energy sector. Minister Gesler E. Murray said Liberia’s current energy infrastructures are in deficit, and as a result, have not been able to meet the load demand of the consuming public ... //

the area of generation, we have the Mount Coffee Hydro Power Plant which has been rehabilitated from a pre-war capacity of 65MW to 88MW.” Minister Murray disclosed; noting: “We also have the HFO Thermal generation of 38MW.” //

“In 2003, our energy infrastructures were in complete ruins, relating to all aspects of power systems: generation, transmission and distribution. We began to rebuild the system using 10MW high speed diesel generators, which was quite expensive. Now, we have HFO generation which is less expensive, and hydro generation.

“In 2004, there was zero demand, now in 2020, we have a peak of demand of 40MW, and in 2021, the load is expected to peak at 50 plus MW, and by 2022, we expect to domestically consume all of the generation from Mount Coffee.” //

According to him, the current access rate of 10 percent for Monrovia and its environs, and only 5 percent nationwide is very low, emphasizing “this is very unacceptable, considering that energy is the lifeblood for any economy.”

“We have wholeheartedly embraced the WAPP concept and the agreed ECOWAS Master Plan of which the CLSG and Mount Coffee are a part of. We are working along with WAPP and the World Bank to complete the Bankable Feasibility Study for a 44 MW Mount Coffee extension, a solar plant with the capacity of 90 MW, and the construction of a second Hydropower Plant within the St. Paul River Basin. We are also working along with WAPP to conduct a feasibility study for a 225KVA line extension from San Pedro to Buchanan and we are also considering a joint Tiboto Hydropower project with neighboring Cote D’ Ivoire within the Cavala River Basin.”

“We consider electricity to be a poverty alleviation and wealth creation facility. So it is our desire that everyone should have it as much as possible. It is incumbent on this government to expand the access rate.”