GM Visits Mt. Coffee Hydro Facility in Liberia

December 5, 2016, Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire – The General Manager of TRANSCO CLSG, Mr. Mohammed M. Sherif was taken on an inspection tour of the Mount Coffee Hydro power Rehabilitation Project facility in Harrisburg by authorities of the Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC), during an official mission to Liberia recently.

Mount Coffee hydro project has been identified by the Government of Liberia as the cornerstone of its objective to expand access to sustainable, affordable, and reliable electricity for its citizens. This was the General Manager’s first visit to the Project and he was impressed with the level of achievements over the last year of construction.

Mr. Sherif said the amount of work that has been achieved to include the construction of the dams and installation of generators and turbines in the Power House is remarkable. Mr. Sherif who was accompanied by TRANSCO CLSG Country Office staff, was briefed by the Mount Coffee Project site manager, Emmanuel Lawrence, on progress of the Mt/ Coffee project.

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Currently, the project has completed Phases 1 and Phase 2, and is in the advanced stages of Phase 3 (construction), with inauguration of the first power milestone planned for December 15, 2016 and full project completion targeted by end of August 2017.

A release from the Liberia Electricity Corporation said testing of the first generating unit of the Mt. Coffee Hydro Power Plant in Harrisburg began Saturday, December 3, 2016. The turbine, which has a capacity of 22 megawatts, will be tested ahead of the December 15th commissioning of the Unit,

The first phase of the reservoir impoundment (filling the reservoir with water) of the Dam Project has been completed. This exercise was successfully completed on October 19, 2016. The construction and rehabilitation of the dam has also been completed.

Seven spillway gates were rehabilitated and strengthened and the upstream cofferdams were removed, allowing for impoundment of the reservoir to 28.5 meters above sea level. The reservoir infrastructure for community access routes affected by impoundment (culverts, floating walkways, and cable ferries) were also completed in October prior to impoundment.

The downstream cofferdams were removed, allowing for the beginning of wet commissioning of turbine #1 in November 2016. Unit #1 successfully completed mechanical testing and is undergoing electrical testing. Energization of the transmission line connecting the Mt. Coffee and the Bushrod substations is targeted for early December.

Excavation of the Emergency Spillway is underway, as is raising of the spillway deck. Construction of the transmission line between the Mt. Coffee and Paynesville substations is also underway. Commissioning of turbine #2 is planned for February 2017.

The Mount Coffee hydro project is co-financed by the Governments of Norway, Germany (KfW Development Bank), European Investment Bank, U.S. Government (Millennium Challenge Corporation), and Government of Liberia.

The Mt. Coffee project began in May 2012 with the establishment of the Mt. Coffee Project Implementation Unit. Prior to its destruction, the pre-war Mt. Coffee plant had a capacity of 64 MW. The rehabilitated Mt. Coffee plant will have a capacity of 88 megawatts (MW).