A delegation from the Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC) has paid a courtesy call on the GRIDCo Chief Executive, Ing. Ebenezer Essienyi and his Management Team. As part of their working visit to Ghana, Mr. Monie R. Captan, the Chief Executive Officer and Mr. Kwame Kpekpena, the Chief Operating Officer, both from LEC, visited GRIDCo.
The team came to Ghana to discuss the possibility of importing power to Liberia. Mr. Kpekpena explained that including GRIDCo in their itinerary was critical. “Recognising the key role GRIDCo plays in the power supply chain in Ghana, there is no way LEC can have such discussions in Ghana without engaging GRIDCo,” Mr. Kwame Kpekpena said.
The delegation added that, after the devastating war in Liberia, the country has had to rebuild among others, its electricity infrastructure from scratch. Liberia has made major investments in all the key areas in its power supply chain. However, whiles this development is ongoing, there is a deficit in energy supply, preventing Liberians from fully benefiting from these investments. There is, therefore, the need to mitigate the deficits the country suffers, especially during its dry season, which usually occurs from January to about the middle of May.
Addressing the delegation, Ing. Ebenezer Kofi Essienyi, mentioned the need to engage key stakeholders, especially, Cote d’Ivoire, due to its key role in the Cote d’Ivoire-Liberia-Sierra Leone-Guinea (CLSG) alliance and interconnection in the West African Sub-Region. “Electricity is now a way of life, not a luxury anymore, as a result, there is the need to continue to engage and find solution to the power supply challenges Liberia is facing,” Ing. Essienyi noted.
Management members present took turns to assure the LEC delegation that GRIDCo has the infrastructure and capacity to deliver on their request when the time comes. Ing. Mark Baah, Director, Corporate Strategy Department and Advisor for the Ghana Wholesale Electricity Market, (GWEM), advised that “There is the need to take full advantage of the regional electricity institutions, namely, the West Africa Power Pool (WAPP) and ECOWAS Regional Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERERA), in order to achieve our goals”. Ing. Baah added that Liberia’s request will be a test case for the regional interconnection.
Ing. Ebenezer Kofi Essienyi encouraged the LEC delegation to continue to pursue its objective by engaging and dialoguing with all parties and key stakeholders to come up with a workable solution.
