Sierra Leone’s bid to increase generation capacity

20 February 2013 – Sierra Leone has set itself a power generation target of 218 MW in 2013. In July 2011 Sierra Leone with a soft loan from China officially commenced construction works for Mini-hydro projects at Bankasoka (2.0 MW), Charlotte (3.0 MW) and Makalie (170 kW). In September 2007, total electricity generation in the country was less than 15 MW but the government subsequently made energy provision one of the five key priorities. As such, there has been an increase in the national electricity generation capacity to over 90MW.

In 2010 a 10 MW thermal plant was installed at Kingtom and in 2011 a 16.5MW plant at Blackhall Road which was meant to support the energy supply to Freetown. Several homes in rural communities, including Mamusa, Blama Massaquoi, Kissy Koya, Makandeh and Mambioma have benefited from solar home systems through a government project funded by the Bare Foot College of India. There has been the commissioning of a Bare Foot Solar Engineers Training Centre at Konta Line Village, the first ever in Africa.

Recently a public-private partnership funded by the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation said it is planning to bring solar power to some of the areas that need it most. It will fund 13 turnkey solar photovoltaic power plants. Laos-based social enterprise Sunlabob Renewable Energy has been awarded two contracts for the design, supply, installation and local training of these projects.