Harrisburg, Mont. County – The Mount Coffee Hydro Plant that is expected to light up the country in December this year is now over 70 percent complete.
Report by Mae Azango [email protected]
On Tuesday, the facility was toured by the CEO of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and the U.S. Ambassador accredited to Liberia.
Giving an overview of the project, Mr. Monie Captan, CEO of Millennium Challenge Agency, said the Project began May 2012, and construction started January 2014.
“We have reconstructed portion of the dam that was washed away in 1990 and upgrade remainder of dam. “
“We also refurbished spillway gates, intake structure, and powerhouse and would install four new turbines.”
“We constructed one new substation and two overhead transmission lines from Mount Coffee to Bushrod Island and Paynesville,” Captan said.
Captan further indicated that there are 650 new jobs for Liberians during construction and benefits for Liberians in the Mount Coffee area includes: new clinic for Harrisburg, financial management and illiteracy and skills development on job.
There are 17 Liberians working at the hydro and 300 foreign staffs from four countries.
The number of employed Liberian would rise to 500 as many Liberians are currently undergoing training on the maintenance of the hydro facility, Bill disclosed.
“We have just employed another 18 engineers, and those engineers will be trained over five year period to run Mount Coffee Hydro.”
“Ten of them have just returned from Germany where they received training on voice system there.”
“And moreover, we have an international contractor who will be training these Liberians to take over from us.”
Giving brief remarks, US Ambassador Christine Elder said she was happy that the hydro was becoming operational.
“Today is a very special day because the reservoir is about to get on line and all Liberian should celebrate, because it will bring power to more and more Liberians in the coming months.”
“This is a better day for Liberia, and we are happy to be here. We are in happy to be in partnership with Norway, Germany, Europe and others to bring the hydro online, which will be a mile stone for Liberia,” Ambassador Christine Elder said.
Mrs. Dana Hyde, CEO of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) said the project costs US$360 million.
“Touring the facility is very impressive, because looking at where we have come in a short period of time, is very impressive.”
“We are interested in this project because we know it will help bring down the cost of electricity, in hospitals, schools and in homes,” said Mrs. Hyde.
The reservoir at the Mount Coffee Hydro Dam has been filled with water for the first time since it was destroyed during the civil war. The reservoir impoundment marks a major milestone towards commissioning the dam on December 16, 2016.
Two turbines have been successfully installed which would produce a total of 22 megawatts of electricity.
“On October 19, 2016, the team on the Mt. Coffee Hydropower Rehabilitation Project successfully completed the reservoir impoundment (filling the reservoir with water). This major milestone is a pre-condition for commissioning of the first turbine,” Bill Hakin, Project Director of the Project Implementation Unit (PIU) of the Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC) said.
The spillway gates which were opened throughout to allow the water to flow through were gradually closed on October 15 in order to increase the water level in the reservoir. The water level reached 28 metres above sea level (masl), just a metre below the maximum operating level.
“This is a significant milestone in the project for us, because at this water level, we are now able to start testing the first turbine unit, and this wouldn’t have been possible without great team work and a lot of dedication,” said Hakin.
He added that despite a number of challenges the project was still on track to allow the hydropower facility to deliver electricity to the LEC grid by mid December 2016 as planned.