Liberia’s Electricity Corporation (LEC) has announced that it will begin nationwide load shedding exercise from tomorrow, February 12, 2020.
According to the Corporation, it has to resort to load shedding due to poor rainfall pattern which has reduced water inflow into the 64megawatts Mt. Coffee Hydroelectric Dam.
In a press release, LEC said the situation has forced them to use the more costly Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) to generate at Bushrod Station.
LEC had hoped that this dry season’s demand would be met by excess power purchased from Cote d’Ivoire and delivered over the new CLSG line.
However, connection to the CLSG regional grid has been delayed to April 2020.
To mitigate this delay LEC has announced a number of measures including disconnecting non-paying large customers and thereby reduce load, Gone to International tender for HFO, to ensure the best priced fuel and currently negotiating a Bank Loan to fund a reduced quantity of HFO.
Despite these actions LEC remains unable to fund all necessary HFO. This being the case, LEC cannot avoid Load Shedding.
“To ensure that electricity is as widely available as possible and to minimize the impact on customers, LEC will begin Load Shedding Operations from February 12th 2020; this is likely to continue throughout the dry season.
Since the Mt.Coffee generation situation changes on a daily basis, LEC will adjust the level of load shedding to minimize the impact on customers while conserving fuel.
“LEC apologizes for any inconvenience to its customers and the general public,” the statement said.
Source: www.energynewsafrica.com