Monrovia – Liberia is on the verge of accelerating its economic gains and bringing life back to the streets of Monrovia with the turning on of the Mount Coffee Hydro – the first time in 26 years – on Friday, December 15, 2016.
Mount Coffee Hydro Project was of several projects including the White Plains Water Treatment Plant, the Monrovia Consolidated School System and JFK Memorial Medical Center, U.S. President Kennedy promised to President William V. S. Tubman in the 1960s.
Construction of the facility began in 1964 by the Monrovia Power Authority using Raymond Concrete Pile Company as the contractor and Stanley Consultants as the project managers.
In 1966, the power company completed the initial phase of the dam and began generating electricity.
The project was finished in 1967 and named the T. J. R. Faulkner W.F. Walker Hydroelectric Power Station.
Initial generating capacity was 30 MW produced by two turbines, which was increased to 64 MW when two more turbines were added in 1973.
The Monrovia Power Authority became the Liberia Electricity Corporation on July 12, 1973.
In June 1990, the government announced plans to more than double the electricity generating capacity of the project and adding a reservoir to allow more generation during the dry season.
The plans called for a new 4,000 feet (1,200 m) dam to be built upriver on the Via River to provide storage capacity, while two 52 MW turbines would be added at the existing power generating plant.
The US$300 million expansion was never begun due to the Civil War.
Then came the civil war in 1990. The dam was ransacked, and left in ruins.
And the future hope of Liberia’s economy was dashed. Rebel forces under the command of Charles Taylor seized the Mt. Coffee plant in July 1990, halting production and causing the dam to breach.
Approximately 180 meters (m) of the 12.2 m high dam, which was founded on overburden, was eroded down to bedrock.
Until construction, including lifting of the spillway gates, began in January 2014, uncontrolled discharge continued through the partially open spillway and, in the wet season, through the breach.
With the shut-down of generation, the powerhouse was vandalized and virtually stripped of power generation equipment, and much of the gate equipment.
The powerhouse cladding was also removed.
The remainder of Liberia’s electricity infrastructure was almost entirely destroyed during the conflict.
Many residents of Monrovia either have to run their own generator for either businesses or homes.
Only a privilege few – 3 per cent of the population of Monrovia have access to electricity generated from diesel and heavy fuel oil generators being regulated by the Liberia Electricity Corporation.
The cost of electricity in Liberia is currently the highest in the sub-region (46kwh).
This situation impedes economic development, and therefore the Government of Liberia has fully committed itself to the Mt. Coffee Rehabilitation Project.
Rehabilitation of the Mt. Coffee hydro plant was identified as the best option for low-cost and sustainable energy generation in the near term.
Following the restoration of peace, rehabilitation of Mt. Coffee was proposed as an important part of the reconstruction efforts led by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
In 2011 the Government of Liberia (GoL) requested financing for the project from the Government of Norway (GoN), KFW Development Bank of Germany, and the European Investment Bank (EIB).
The Financing Agreement between EIB and the GOL was signed on December 28, 2012, for a concessionary loan in the amount of €50 million.
Two Cooperation Agreements were signed between GoL and GoN on June 13 and July 4, 2013 in support of the Mt. Coffee Project Implementation Unit and the Hydropower Rehabilitation Project, respectively, for a total grant amount of NOK450 million.
A Financing and Project Agreement was signed between KfW and the GoL on September 30, 2013, for a grant in the amount of €25 million. The Government of Liberia committed to providing $45 million and covering any cost overruns.
Over the first two years of project implementation it became evident that the project budget was significantly under-estimated, as evidenced by the market response to tenders; cost increases also occurred due to the Ebola crisis of 2014 – 2015, and design optimization decisions agreed by the stakeholders.
The Ebola crisis hindered the Government of Liberia’s ability to provide the originally committed amount of US$45 million. Therefore, additional financing was sought in 2015.
As a result, the Millennium Challenge Compact was signed between the U.S. Government (through MCC) and the GOL on October 2, 2015 for a grant towards the Mt. Coffee Project of $146.8 million including contingency, plus additional support for environmental/social activities.
The Government of Liberia also requested additional financing of the Government of Norway and KfW. In response, an Addendum to the original Cooperation Agreement between the GoN and GoL was signed on December 1, 2015, for a grant of NoK 92 million, and a Supplemental Financing Agreement was signed between KfW and GOL for €30 million on November 26, 2015. In order to ensure full availability of financing, the GOL also requested EIB to provide up to an additional €20 million loan.
The joint financing covered rehabilitation of the hydropower plant and reservoir, the construction of a 132/66 kilovolt (kV) substation at Mount Coffee, two 132/66 kV transmission lines between Mount Coffee and Monrovia, and the expansion of the two receiving substations in Monrovia.
The project does not include distribution of the hydropower-based electricity all the way to households; this remains the responsibility of LEC.
Development of the 225 kV transmission line from the Mount Coffee substation to neighboring countries continues to be arranged through the West African Power Pool (WAPP), in a parallel process.
Responsibility for implementation of the Project was assigned to the Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC) by the Government of Liberia.
The Project is being implemented by a Project Implementation Unit (PIU) within LEC, acting on behalf of the Board of Directors of LEC.
The Liberia Electricity Corporation is currently administered by Manitoba Hydro International Ltd. (MHI) under a Management Contract (MC).
This MC was originally scheduled to run for five years from July 1, 2010 until June 30, 2015, and is funded by the Government of Norway.
In January 2013 an Amendment to the Management Contract was signed between the GoL, LEC, and GoN, which allows for the financing of the PIU and the implementation of the Mt. Coffee Hydropower Rehabilitation Project.
Liberia is one of seven main partner countries under the Norwegian Clean Energy Initiative, and the GON have shown considerable commitment to supporting the reconstruction and expansion efforts for the Liberian electricity sector. Mt. Coffee represents the most substantial commitment of the GON to Liberia’s energy sector to date.
The scale of Liberia’s development challenges, combined with the fact that all of LEC generation capacity is currently sourced from costly thermal power, underlines the urgency in getting the Mt. Coffee Hydropower Plant to an operational stage.
Delays will entail a [continued] considerable cost for the Liberian society, in the form of high fuel costs for thermal electricity production.
The Government of Liberia and its partners have therefore agreed that rehabilitation of the Mt. Coffee Hydropower Plant should be fast-tracked as a publicly funded and owned project for low-cost reliable power generation to Monrovia; it was declared a “national emergency” by the GOL in 2012.
The MCHPP Rehabilitation Project began in May 2012 with the establishment and development of the PIU at LEC. Construction began at the site in January 2014.
Unfortunately, due to the Ebola outbreak in Liberia and its neighboring countries, which reached crisis level in August 2014, the on-site construction works had to be suspended for a period of eight months.
Though off-shore activities, including procurement and manufacturing (of generating equipment and auxiliary components) continued, the outbreak resulted in a one-year delay to the project’s schedule.
Construction resumed in April 2015 and the achievement of first commercial power production from the plant is targeted for December 17, 2016.
Prior to its destruction, the pre-war Mt. Coffee plant had a capacity of 64 MW. The rehabilitated Mt. Coffee plant will have a capacity of 88 megawatts (MW).
The Mt. Coffee Hydropower Rehabilitation Project will provide for a sustainable and cost-efficient supply of electrical energy, and will replace operations of emergency diesel engines and private aggregates that are presently used throughout the country.
It will also facilitate continuation of the re-electrification of the capital, as well as the start of meaningful rural electrification in the country.
This latter benefit is particularly relevant in light of the West Africa Power Pool (WAPP) regional transmission line project, which will connect the electricity systems of Liberia, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone, and Guinea, and is inextricably linked to the Mt. Coffee Rehabilitation.
The Mt. Coffee Project will add considerable value to Liberia’s national welfare, and will serve as Liberia’s backbone electricity supply asset that will provide reliable, renewable power services to citizens and contribute to the restoration of economic growth to pre-war levels.
The economic costs of the project include the economic capital costs, operation and maintenance cost inputs, and the economic price of land (e.g. foregone agricultural output). The economic benefits are far greater than the costs, and include the gross electricity economic benefits, avoided fuel costs, avoided greenhouse gas emissions, and many other direct and indirect economic and social benefits.
The Project will yield measurable environmental benefits by improving air quality and reducing air pollution; it will improve political and economic stability by contributing toward Liberia’s energy independence and diversification of the economy’s energy portfolio, making Liberia less vulnerable to global oil market shocks.
The Project will displace all greenhouse gas emissions related to the combustion of diesel fuel powered generators and other potential fossil fuel based alternatives that would be deployed in the absence of the Mt. Coffee hydropower plant.
The implementation of the Project will result in significant fuel savings arising from drastically reduced fuel imports to power diesel generators, including at LEC Bushrod Island substation.
The Project will also generate other benefits in addition to electricity supply.
The reservoir will enable enhanced subsistence fishing for the project community. In addition, the reservoir water when sustainably managed, and balanced against the Mt. Coffee energy requirements, could provide other local water supply benefits.
The project will include, as part of its social safeguards, the improvement of the health facility at Raymond’s Camp and the provision of other local infrastructural improvements (e.g. electricity supply in the area of the plant, improved water supply, and improved access roads).
The project will also generate employment benefits for the local community (skilled and unskilled) and for Liberia’s citizens more broadly.
Finally, the reduced cost of hydropower generation will allow for a significant reduction in the LEC tariff, which will have important impacts on the socioeconomic well-being of Liberia’s people.
Additional Reporting From Mount Coffee