Doloquee
The Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC) has issued a warning that it cannot meet the country’s peak demand for energy due to the reduced operation of its thermal and hydropower plants caused by high fuel costs on the Liberian market.
The peak demand for electricity in Liberia is from 6 am to 9 am and 6 pm to 11 pm, requiring 74 MW of energy for consumption. However, LEC is struggling to generate 74 MW, resulting in frequent unannounced power cuts.
The LEC contract with CI Energies has a power generation capacity of 27 MW, which is about 50% of what Mount Coffee Hydro can generate. The additional power is expected to address frequent load-shedding during the dry season, but the LEC is currently operating below capacity.
The LEC generates additional power through its thermal and hydropower plants, approximately 47 MW, which provides a combined capacity with the CLSG of 74 MW. However, due to the high cost of fuel, LEC has limited the use of its thermal plants to produce more cost-reflective energy, resulting in load-shedding.
It has been alleged that LEC has been exceeding the contracted megawatts, going an extra 23 MW, and not paying for the contracted electricity. However, the allegation is false, and there is a conductor that restricts Liberia to the megawatts agreement upon the power purchase agreement.
Related: Liberia Faces Electricity Shortage as Power Supply from Cote d’Ivoire Disrupted
The LEC has announced a series of planned load-shedding to match electricity demand to the available capacity, expected to run between six and twelve hours a day, and will continue beyond its May 5 deadline if water inflow into the Mount Coffee does not improve to enable the full operation of the dam.
The latest power cut by LEC comes as Liberia remains one of the countries with the lowest electricity access rates in the world, with only about 12% of the population having access to electricity, constraining economic activities.
LEC is in a precarious financial position due to electricity theft via illegal connections and non-payment by government agencies, making it difficult to upgrade outdated infrastructure and invest in maintenance. The Transco project involves the construction of five 225 kV substations and approximately 530 km of 225 kV power lines running across five counties in Liberia.
