• Liberia now generates 70% of power from renewables

• Total capacity 126 MW, with only 93 MW operational

• Rising imports via CLSG line highlight persistent supply deficit
  

Liberia's electricity supply is now 70% generated from renewable sources, primarily hydropower and solar. The milestone was announced by Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) head Dr. Urey-Yarkpawolo in a recent interview with the BBC, highlighting a key step in the nation's clean energy transition.

Despite this progress, Liberia faces significant challenges with its overall electricity supply. The 2024 World Bank report, Looking ahead: Perspective on the National Electricity Utility of Liberia, 2024, states the country’s total installed capacity is only about 126 megawatts (MW). The Liberia Electricity Regulatory Commission (LERC)'s 2023 annual report found that only 93 MW of that capacity was operational, due to outages and technical issues at the Mount Coffee hydroelectric plant.

To compensate, Liberia has increased its electricity imports through the regional CLSG (Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea) power line, rising from 27 MW in 2023 to nearly 50 MW in 2024, the World Bank noted. This reliance on external power was underscored in February 2025, when the Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC) reported an 85% drop in deliveries from its main supplier, Compagnie Ivoirienne d’Électricité (CIE).

The World Bank estimates that even with already-funded projects, available capacity will not exceed 187 MW by 2030, while demand is projected to reach 388 MW. This would leave a structural deficit of 51.8% unless new projects are implemented.

Abdel-Latif Boureima