Energy - Sierra Leone
From GLGI
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Contents |
Current News
In a recent interview with Sierra Leone's new president, Ernest Bai Koroma, in Newsweek [1] said, "We have quickly prioritized the issues that will get us on our feet again. One is the provision of electricity. We believe that it is key, and fundamental to all other development." As a group of us is preparing to leave for Freetown on February 29, we are hearing that indeed this is the case--electricity is available for more hours a day. We'll be able to report first hand very shortly!
Energy in Sierra Leone
This information is from the Information Portal for Africa, Mbendi.co.za [2]
Overview
Much of the Sierra Leone’s power generation capacity was hampered during the civil war. The country currently experiences frequent blackouts and in the Freetown peninsula, electricity supply is available to customers only for a few hours every week. Otherwise, if they can afford it, people generate their own electricity with gas-powered generators. Most areas in the interior of the country are wholly or largely without access electricity.
About 90% of Sierra Leone's electricity is consumed in the country's four main cities: The capital city of Freetown uses 82% of the country’s electrical power, followed by Kenema which uses 3%, Bo uses 3%, and Makeni uses 2% of the country’s power supply.
Sierra Leone's power generation relies substantially on fuel oil imports. Freetown's electricity supply comes from the oil-powered Kingtom power generating station, which struggles to provide a continual and an uninterrupted power supply, due to it being in poor condition.
The National Power Authority (NPA) is responsible for providing electricity to Sierra Leone. The company was previously named the Sierra Leone Electricity Corporation (SLEC). In recent years the NPA has been undergone privatisation, allowing more investment and financial support for projects in the country’s electrical power sector.
Projects
There remains a substantial interest in developing Sierra Leone's hydropower potential. A major hydropower project had been the focus for providing for the power needs of the country for a long time. The Bumbuna Hydroelectric Project (BHP) had been developed in 1970 but civil conflict in the country had caused construction works to be suspended in 1997, but, by then, the project had 85 percent complete. It was only in June 2005 that the World Bank approved construction to be resume on the project.
The project entails a hydropower complex, located on the Seli River, in the valleys of the Sula Mountains, approximately 200 km northeast of Freetown, in the Kalansogoia Chiefdom of the Tonkolili district. It encompasses an 88m high rock-fill dam with an asphalted concrete upstream face; a 50 MW power station located at the tow of the dam, housing two turbine-generator units of 25 MW each; a transmission system consisting of 200 km of 161 kV transmission line from the power station to Freetown and a substation in Freetown to feed power into the Western Area grid; and a separate power service to Makeni, Lunsar and Port Loko.
The BHP is seen as beneficial to the future of Sierra Leone’s electrical power sector because it can greatly improve the current power supply situation by providing a reliable supply of electricity that would meet the electricity needs of the West African country, including Freetown, at the lowest possible cost and in a sustainable manner. Moreover the electricity generated by the BHP will provide power to new towns such as Makeni, Lunsar and Port Loko, which are currently not connected to the grid.
The project is due to be completed by August 2009.
Energy Consumption in Sierra Leone
from CIA World Fact book [3]
Sierra Leone ranks 172 out of 214 countries listed with total electrical consumption of 226,900,000 kWh. The United States is #1 at 3,717,000,000,000 kWh. Consumption is defined as total electricity consumed annually plus imports and minus exports, expressed in kWh.
The per capita consumption is [4] 36.927 kWh, ranking 193 in the world--Iceland is number 1 at 26,101.99 kWh (the United States is number 9 at 12,343.098 kWh). The weighted average Worldwide is: 3,058.7 kWh per capita.
Other Energy News in Sub-Saharan Africa [5]
Another recently announced initiative of the World Bank intends to bring electricity to 250 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa (where Sierra Leone is--though it is not mentioned in this particular initiative, at least during its pilot phase, which focuses on Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania, and Zambia).
According to the announcement, "The undertaking will use high-tech compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) and light-emitting diodes (LEDs) powered by renewable energy sources like solar and wind power and micro gas and mechanical means like hand cranking and pedal power to illuminate homes, businesses, health centers and other sites that aren’t connected to the power grid.
The new lighting will be portable, durable, and cheaper, safer, and cleaner than lighting whose energy comes from the burning of kerosene and other fossil fuels.
The Bank-led initiative will provide support where private-sector resources would not go. It will create partnerships under which the Bank and the IFC (International Finance Corporation, which is the private sector arm of the World Bank) will provide financing for both production and marketing as well as micro-financing."
