The Liberia electricity Cooperation has signed a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with CI Energies and CIE for the supply of 27megawatts of electricity to Liberia.
The power will be transmitted through the Mano River sub-region Cote d’Ivoire,Liberia Sierra Leone Guniea (CLSG) Transmission line. According to our report, the Power supply to Liberia will commence on December 1, 2022.
LEC Acting CEO and Chairman Mr. Monie R. Captan, and Mr. Noumory Sidibe Director General of CI Energies and Mr. Ahmadou Bakayoko Director General of CIE signed on behalf of their respective companies.
The 1,350-kilometer power transmission line which carries 225kv, runs through the CLSG/Transco grid network connecting the four countries, Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.
“Today marks a major milestone in our effort to create a regional energy market and interconnect our electricity networks,” said Liberia’s Energy Minister of Mines and Energy Minister Gesler E. Murray,.
He said the supply of energy from La Cote d’Ivoire will significantly help stabilize Liberia’s energy supply during the dry season when we face major energy deficits.
According to the service provider, the PPA will last for a 3 year term and is renewable. All parties will have to play their role in order to make it sustainable Mr. Noumory Sidibe, Director General of CI Energies, said. He told our correspondent in Abidjan that the PPA with Liberia could not be signed earlier due to some factors which the country now has met.
“CIE will deliver to Liberia 25 megawatts on December 1, 2022 and go up to 27 megawatts in January 2023”, he added.
Monie R. Captan, Acting CEO of LEC told the gathering that the additional power help Liberia greatly especially during the dry season when power supply to thousands of residents become low due to low water supply.
“La Cote d’ Ivoire is not giving us free electricity. This PPA is a commercial agreement requiring Liberia to pay for the electricity it receives.
The greatest effort that can be made to curtail the misuse of this power is through community engagement. There has been a lot of enthusiasm shown by our people to get involved in ensuring we pay for the electricity we will receive”, Mr. Captan added.
New 112Megawatt to be built
At the same time, a new Transmission Service Agreement(TSA) is expected to be signed on October 25, 2022 in Abidjan between the Liberia Electricty Cooperation and the Transco CLSG for the transmission of energy purchased from CI Energies/CIE.
Our correspondent said Liberia will also shortly begin the implementation of a 20-megawatt solar project and the expansion of the Mt. Coffee Hydropower Plant by 44 megawatts; partnership of the World Bank and the Government of Liberia.
West Africa Power Pull (WAPP), GOL and the World Bank are at the same time developing plans to build a 112MW hydropower plant upstream of the St. Paul River aimed at alleviating the electricity crisis in the country.
Liberia is still fighting to restore regular supply of electricity since the end of the country 14 years deadly civil unrest that destroyed several infrastructures including the only electric power dam Mt. Coffee.
