Trial Test Begins on Second Turbine at Mount Coffee Hydro

Monrovia-Testing of the second turbine at the Mt. Coffee Hydro Plant in Harrisburg begins today.

The completion of the second turbine, which has a capacity of 22 megawatts, will increase the installed capacity of the Mt. Coffee Hydropower Plant to 44 megawatts and the overall installed capacity of the LEC to 82 megawatts.

In preparation to place the second turbine online, there will be outages which will occur during the synchronization process of unit 2.

The process begins with the unit preparation of emergency stop, followed by load rejection test at various intervals of 5.5, 11, 16.5 and 19MW.

The 5.5MW intervals of both tests, are expected to be carried without experiencing an outage on the grid, while the 11, 16.5 and 19MW (red coded) are expected to have an outage on the grid.

On December 15, 2016, the first generating unit was commissioned by President Sirleaf.

When the project is completed, Mt. Coffee Hydropower Plant will have a total installed capacity of 88 MW (four generating units of 22 MW each).

The completion of the second generating unit of Mt. Coffee would not only increase the LEC generating capacity, but complimentarily avail the capability to increase the corporation’s customer base.

This will also pave the way for the reduction in tariff as was promised by President Johnson-Sirleaf during her recent annual address to the Legislature.

During the testing exercise, customers may experience interruptions in power supply. 

The LEC management said testing will continue till Monday, February 6, 2017.

“The Management of the LEC apologizes for any inconvenience as a result of this exercise and asks for the support of the Liberian people leading to the full completion of this project,” a statement from LEC read.

“Customers are advised to make the necessary preparations in relation to these power interruptions.”