Page 11 - AfrElec Week 04 2023

AfrElec ENERGY CRISIS AfrElec

Liberia reports energy supply shortage,

institutes limited power cuts

LIBERIA STATE-OWNED utility Liberia Electricity interconnection project as part of the West Afri-
Corporation (LEC) has reverted to instituting can Power Pool (WAPP).
limited power cuts to meet demand as it is expe- According to the press release, the power
riencing shortages of energy supply, The New supply from the country’s Mount Coffee hydro-
Dawn (Liberia) reported on January 19. power plant has declined due to low water levels.
The LEC said in a press release that energy In addition to the 27MW from CIE, the LEC can
consumption has increased significantly, with generate up to 18.5MW from Mount Coffee,
the network peak load rising from an average of thus meeting a demand off about 50MW this
55 megawatts (MW) to as high as 73.2MW dur- dry season.
ing evening hours, according to the local media The LEC has asked its customers to conserve
outlet. energy and turn off appliances when not in used,
The utility says it contracted 27MW from CI especially during evening hours when consump-
Energies (CIE), the Electricity Company of Cote tion is extremely high, The New Dawn writes.
d’Ivoire, to help compensate for the supply defi- The corporation expects the power outages to be
cit, which represents the maximum allocation limited in scope and duration until the return of
available to each of CLSG (Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia, the wet season.
Sierra Leone, Guinea) countries. An additional supply of electricity, according
The four West African countries share to the LEC, is planned for the next dry season to
a 1,357km high voltage line that connects address the perennial problems of energy supply
national grids through the electricity networks deficits, the report says. ™

Zimbabwe: electricity sub-station explosion

paralyses industrial area in Harare

ZIMBABWE SOME companies in a key industrial zone in The publication said a number of factories in
Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare, have suspended the area had their gates locked adding that ZESA
operations and laid off some workers due Holdings (ZESA) had not started working on the
to lack of electricity caused by a sub-station damaged facility whose components must be
explosion. imported from neighbouring South Africa.
New Zimbabwe reported on Friday (Janu-
ary 20) that the sub-station in Workington was ZESA has been failing to provide enough
damaged in the December 28, 2022 explosion. electricity in recent months due to a drought
Some companies have been running their plants which curtailed output from its main hydro-
on diesel generators but others found the alter- power facility. A large coal-fired plant west of
native too expensive, thus they have closed and the country is being expanded and producing
retrenched. below capacity.
“I have about 30 employees and the same “We cannot afford to use generators because
number at my sister company,” Wood Take of our heavy-duty machinery, so all operations
owner Alan Dreyer is quoted as saying. at most of the industries have been stopped,”
“There has not been any power since we another company owner told New Zimbabwe,
opened this year but I assure you they will be declining to be named.
expecting their salaries at the end of the month “The issue is mainly on payment of salaries,
despite the situation. If only we could get com- some employers have already started laying off
munication as to when ZESA [the power utility] workers with no pay because there is no produc-
expects to reconnect us for planning purposes.” tion.” ™

Week 04 26•January•2023 www. NEWSBASE .com P11