Deputy Mines and Energy Minister, Charles Umehai, has been making rounds in a couple of counties – Buchanan, and Mano substations in Grand Bassa, and Cape Mount Counties – assessing the country’s energy capacity linked the cross-border interconnection project or CLSG.
Following the tour he spoke to journalists, expressing optimism that the two facilities visited are capable of enhancing the capacity of existing national power grids across the country.
Umehai said the cross-border interconnection project (CLSG) is intended to expand access to electricity for the four Mano River Union Countries – Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea. He described it an important component to achieving economic growth and national development in the sub-region.
The CLSG electricity networks involved the construction of a 1,357-kilometer double circuit high voltage of 225 kv line to connect the four countries’ networks which is an integral part of the backbone of MRU countries and priority projects of the West African Power Pool (WAPP) master-plan.
Deputy Minister Umehai told journalists that energy efficiency remains top on the ARREST agenda of President Joseph Nyuma Boakai’s administration, and as such, the Mines and Energy Ministry is strongly committed to working along with the Liberia Electricity Corporation and other service providers to establish state-of-the-art transmission and distribution infrastructures in order to fully utilize the electric power being produced by the sub-stations.
At both sub-stations in Buchanan, and Mano, the Deputy Energy Minister’s team of engineers expressed concerns about the possibility of Independent Power Providers (IPPs) getting involved with transporting electric power from the sub-stations to communities, aside from the national service provider – LEC.
Engineer Mohammed Sow, representing TRANSCO-Liberia which constructed the sub-stations in Liberia, said service providers compliant with modern technologies the sub-stations are equipped with can connect to the grids and provide service to customers.
“There is no problem having IPPs accessing the facilities to serve the public,” Mr. Sow said, adding that his company has no issues with connectivity to the sub-stations by independent power producers partnering with the government.
He however quickly intimated that once the service providers are properly processed by the government’s energy authorities, they can go ahead with connecting to the grids to supply communities with electricity.
Aside from the outlet constructed at the Mount Coffee hydro power plant in White-plains, Montserrado County, he said, each of the four other sub-stations occupy a 10-acre land space, with each of the 225 kv lines having the power production capacity of 40 megawatt (40mw), while the largest facility in Mount Coffee produces 70 megawatt (70mw) from supplies through its high voltage lines.
Liberia receives the interconnection piwer from its networks station in Yekepa, and transmits the energy to Buchanan for onward distributions within Liberia and neighboring Sierra Leone, and Guinea, he noted.
Deputy Minister Umehai also told journalists that the government is sensitive to the electricity needs of Liberians and other customers and assured that practical steps were being taken to make sure the LEC is capacitated to transport the current to homes and businesses.
Umehai said the effort is among paramount concerns to President Joseph N. Boakai, stressing that the importance of sustainable and reliable electricity cannot be overstated, something he says is key to realizing priorities espoused by the ARREST Agenda for Inclusive Development (AAID). The AAID is President Joseph Boakai’s development platform.
The TRANSCO company was urged during the Mines and Energy Ministry assessment of it’s power sub-stations in Bassa, and Cape Mount, to encourage the inclusion of Liberians in its staffing, as technicians spotted on the sites who are managing and carrying out maintenance works on the facilities are aliens.
The Deputy Energy Minister made the government’s position clear that the Country [Liberia] is not against other nationals accessing employment opportunities here, but pointed out that there is a need for succession plans through training and mentorship programs.
Whilst awaiting a bigger rollout of such plans, Mr. Umehai urged TRANSCO to begin prevailing on little approaches that will embed Liberian electrical engineers with their alien counterparts to manage the sub-stations.
This assessment effort by the Energy Department is part of Mines and Energy Minister Wilmot Paye’s overarching desire and transformative plan to institute quality reforms. Minister Paye believes that the best way for Liberians to benefit from their natural resources is to strengthen the energy, and mining sectors to bring service providers in compliance with the law to promote greater accountability and revenue generation.
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