By Bill W. Cooper
The government, through the Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC), has signed a power purchase agreement for 2025 through 2027, with CI-Energies at its headquarters in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, aiming at addressing Liberia’s electricity woes, especially during the dry season period.
The LEC’s Power Purchase Arrangement (PPA) with CI Energies and CIE, remains a commercial agreement for the purchase and supply of electricity which has over the years provided capacity for LEC to meet its energy demand.
Through the newly signed PPA, LEC’s contracted supply is 50 megawatts of electricity from its Ivorian counterpart.
However, the LEC delegation for the signing ceremony was led by the LEC Interim Managing Director, Thomas Gonkerwon, and accompanied by, the Chairman of the Board of Directors, Emmanuel Tulay, and Head of Finance, Adam Sheriff.
Others are Head of Legal Services, Cllr. Malayan Keita-Brown, Manager, Communications, Verity Neufville-Sonkarlay, Jungle Energy Power CEO, Tomah Seh Floyd, and Albedo/Libenergy CEO, Marissa Diagne.
The LEC Interim Managing Director, Thomas Gonkerwon, thanked the management of both CIE and CI-Energies for their unflinching support to the energy sector of Liberia.
He acknowledged the series of discussions held with the two institutions and highlighted that by agreeing to supply Liberia energy even before all the legal arrangements, CIE and CI-Energies have shown a sign of brotherhood and African solidarity.
Gonkerwon then assured his Ivorian counterparts that the government had prioritized the energy sector and had instructed the LEC to install prepaid meters at all government institutions except medical facilities.
He added that by doing so, electricity will now be used effectively and efficiently, noting that Electricity serves as a catalyst for economic growth.
The LEC has embarked on a mission to connect more large users, for example, the Industrial Park along the Somalia drive, whose demand is around 27 megawatts and the industrial free zone.
CI-Energies Asset Manager DJAHA Kouadio Ambroise, welcomed the Liberian delegation and extolled the LEC for always making efforts to abide by the terms and conditions of these agreements.
He informed the LEC Interim Managing Director and team of the technical challenges that CI-Energies has been facing since last year, which has reduced its production and services.
According to him, the PPA is for a 3-year term and is renewable as such, “All parties will have to respect their role as per the agreement terms and conditions to make the deal sustainable.”
CI Energies Director General Noumory Sidibe, further stated that for CI Energies and CIE to continue to effectively supply LEC the power that they need, LEC must continue to be in good standing; by this, we all would have respected the terms and conditions of this agreement.
Meanwhile, with Liberia preparing to meet its future energy needs, LEC said it has initiated a solar farm project which is expected to go live in October 2025, the repair of Unit 1 at the Mount Coffee Hydro Power Plant is also to be completed in 2025, and an expansion of the mount coffee hydropower plant by two additional turbines.
Whilst there are plans on the way for more investment in green energy, the short-term plan is to increase thermal capacity, which normally comes in during the dry season, to boost the generation from Mount Coffee.
The LEC management added that it is confident that the country is getting closer to its national goal of increasing access to electricity for all Liberians, as with the growing electricity demand, the entity management also encouraged all of its customers currently connected to the national grid, to use electricity efficiently and avoid wasteful consumption.