Page 10 - AfrElec Week 11 2021

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and stand-alone solar systems in remote areas. devastating impact on Liberia’s economy and
It will also deliver off-grid solar electrification people’s livelihoods and poses a major threat
to about 200 health facilities in particular to help going forward.
build resilience against COVID-19. When the global pandemic emerged in early
The projects aim to improve Liberia’s econ- 2020, Liberia was already facing a challenging
omy and help to build resilience for vulnerable domestic and external environment. Weak con-
households that are greatly at risk of falling into sumption and declining output had caused the
poverty due to the impact of the COVID-19 Liberian economy to contract by an estimated
pandemic. 2.3% in 2019 and a further 2.9% in 2020.
An estimated 44% of Liberians were living on According to the High-Frequency Phone
less than $2 a day in 2016 and this is now pro- Survey of Households conducted by the Libe-
jected to reach 52% in 2021. Access to health- ria Institute of Statistics and Geo-Information
care, education and basic utilities like energy is Services, more than 70% of households reported
also particularly low compared to the rest of the experiencing food shortages and increased food
region. prices.
“Given the devastating impact of COVID- “This is a demonstration of the Bank’s strong
19 on the economy and people’s livelihoods, commitment to Liberia. The approved package
improved energy access will stimulate inclusive of support will be a big boost to our COVID-19
economic growth while support to the informal recovery efforts and our vision to transform the
sector will help the most vulnerable Liberians to economy through infrastructure development,”
recover from the loss in incomes,” said Khwima said Samuel D. Tweah Jr, Liberia’s Minister of
Nthara, World Bank country manager in Liberia. Finance and Development Planning™
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a

COAL

Botswana suffers as power cuts hit

BOTSWANA RECENT power cuts in Botswana have brought imports.
into focus the importance of the upgrade of the The country’s power demand currently
country’s Morupule B coal-fired power plant. stands at 550 MW. In theory the Chinese-built
The country suffered massive power cuts last Morupule B power plant can generate 450 MW,
week as a critical sub-station failed. Meanwhile, but it has only been operating at up to 33% of
IT failures meant that customers could not buy capacity, meaning that the country has to import
electricity or call to report faults. power from South Africa.
BPC CEO David Kgoboko said this week that Meanwhile, Kgoboko said the BPC is also
the recent failures were being investigated. working on several clean energy projects. These
“We have identified gaps that need to be include solar power plants supplying 250 MW
addressed, which include lack of early warn- to be built in Jwaneng and Selebi Phikwe, as well
ing on power cuts, lack of emergency back-ups as the conversion of the 90-MW Orapa plant to
amongst others,” he said. gas from diesel.
“Investigations are ongoing to establish the BPC also planning to introduce direct credit
root causes of the (recent) incident so that pre- of units into meters, as opposed to the current
ventative measures can be put in place to prevent system where customers have to load the meters
recurrence.” with a code obtained after buying from the BPC.
Kgoboko said remedial work at the 600-MW Other alternatives to Morupule include
Morupule B was progressing well, which when the signing by the Botswana Energy Regula-
finalised would give Botswana greater electricity tory Authority (BERA) of three IPP licences to
stability. build a combined 827 MW of generating capac-
BPC said that work at Morupule B should be ity, which will supply both the domestic and
complete by 2023. regional markets.
Morupule B was completed in 2012, but has The country will also develop coal-bed meth-
been plagued by problems since then because of ane (CBM), with Tlou Energy aiming to build up
design, construction and quality issues in key to 100 MW of CBM-fired capacity at the Lesedi
components at the four units. project.
The plant suffered and continues to experi- The government plans to support $1.8bn of
ence frequent breakdowns, forcing the BPC to investment in the power sector to meet up to 500
rely on more costly emergency diesel power or MW of forecast new demand by 2030.™

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 11 18•March•2021