Following extensive upgrades, the Mount Coffee hydropower plant in Liberia has gone back into service. At a ceremony on 15 December, in the presence of 300 international guests, Liberia's president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf celebrated the start-up of the first turbine-generator unit at the run-of-river hydropower plant.
German technology group Voith played a major role in this project, supplying new Francis turbines, generators, the control technology and the electrical and mechanical power plant equipment.
Once commissioning has been completed, the 88 MW capacity plant will supply more than a million people in Liberia with clean electricity, making a crucial contribution to Liberia's economic transformation and deliver sustainable progress for the population.
"For Liberia and many other countries in Africa, energy supply is a major component of their national growth strategy. The reliable, stable supply of energy to households and industry is a major prerequisite for improving living conditions," commented president Sirleaf.
