MONROVIA – The management of the Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC) has confirmed that one of the turbines at the Mount Coffee Hydro Power Plant is down, thereby, reducing the capacity of the hydro to three turbines producing 44 megawatts of electricity each.
LEC in a statement indicated that all three units have been called into use to meet the growing demand for electricity in recent weeks.
“Only Unit 1, at Mount Coffee is currently unavailable having suffered a major failure in the stator windings.”
The Liberia Electricity Corporation also disclosed that three of the turbines are no longer covered by the manufacturer’s warranty, rather the LEC’s insurance policy.
“Experts from LEC’s insurers, the Mt. Coffee Operation, Maintenance & Training contractor (HOI) and the Original Equipment Manufacturer (Voith) have all carried out detailed investigations and inspections on Unit No 1 (the faulty unit) to determine the root cause of the unit’s failure,” LEC indicated in a statement.
According to the LEC, components from the damaged turbine (Unit 1) have been shipped to Europe for specialist analysis and test and currently awaiting the final investigation report.
Meanwhile, LEC remains indebted to the operator due to its cash constraints resulting from unsustainable levels of power theft. This indebtedness has affected the timely delivery of the Final Investigation Report, LEC disclosed.
LEC procured Heavy Fuel Oil in May 2021 for which it had to borrow from EcoBank.
“This was necessary to ensure that LEC had sufficient generating capacity at Bushrod during the dry season to bridge the gap created by shutdowns required at MCHPP due to low water levels at the reservoir resulting from late rain falls and to facilitate construction and commissioning of the CLSG transmission line and other ongoing power infrastructure projects,” the statement further indicated.
