Power outage in Kenema explained

Abidjan, CI, February 8, 2022: TRANSCO CLSG, the regional transmission company responsible for the interconnection of electricity grid from Cote d’Ivoire into Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea has been experiencing power outages along its transmission line from Man in Cote d’Ivoire to Bo-Kenema in Sierra Leone in recent times.

The outages are being experienced largely due to the following:

1. a) a very long tree outside the 40-meter CLSG transmission line corridor fell on the conductor, which led to the break in transmission of the 225Kv line from Man to the Yekepa substation in Liberia. This problem has been addressed.
2. b) frequent system outages on the Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC) network which affects the CLSG auxiliary equipment connected to the LEC 66kV/22kV system at the Mt Coffee. This technical glitch has resulted in the frequent tripping of the SVC at the CLSG’s Mount Coffee Substation in Liberia.

We would like to assure the general public and the people of Sierra Leone that the Management of TRANSCO CLSG has taken swift and robust steps to remedy the situation.

We are currently installing two 200Kva diesel generator sets to supply the CLSG substation auxiliaries including the SVC system at the Mount Coffee substation as a back-up measure so as to ensure stability in the supply of electricity to Sierra Leone.

Meanwhile, power has already been restored along the transmission line to Bo-Kenema whilst the installation of the backup generators is currently underway.