Louis Rene Peter Larose (photo), executive director of the World Bank Africa Group One, recently visited the Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC) to find out measures that its institution could take to assist the local power industry. The main goal here is to help the country recover its pre-war energy capacity.

“Energy is the lifeblood of every economy and with what I have observed so far, I'm convinced that Liberia should be helped by the international community to regain its pre-war status. “Energy is the lifeblood of every economy and with what I have observed so far, I'm convinced that Liberia should be helped by the international community to regain its pre-war status of 200MW”, Larose said. “One of the reasons I am in Liberia is to find out Liberia's energy challenges and what can the World Bank do to provide support for the economy to reduce poverty,” he continued.

According to data from the LEC, Liberia currently produces 28 MW. By September this year, 10 MW will de be added to the national grid with the support of Japan. By the end of the year, an additional 22 MW will be added, thus bringing Liberia’s total power generation capacity to 60 MW.

Let’s note that the Mount Coffee hydropower dam is presently being rehabilitated and should also add another 88 MW to this capacity, by 2017.