Prefeasibility study to identify the best options to supply power through minigrids to the 13,000 households in Lofa County, Liberia, funded by the World Bank/CSET

IED and its Liberian partner CSET launched on September 29th in Monrovia a prefeasibility study, funded by the World Bank Bank through the Program for Scaling-Up Renewable Energy in Low Income Countries (SREP) to identify the best options to supply power through minigrids to the 13,000 households of four localities in Lofa County : Voinjama, Foya, Kolahun, Zorzor and smaller towns and villages in the backcountry.

Located on the North-West part of Liberia, Lofa County is a remote area without any grid supply today, but where several rivers are good candidates for hydropower installations. Despite this good hydropower potential, seasonality of the river flow calls for additional energy sources in order to provide energy all year round.

The study will comprise of a demand assessment, the determination of an optimal generation mix based on a technical, economic and financial analysis, as well as the basic design and costing of the local minigrid supply. The primary beneficiary of the study is Liberia’s Rural and Renewable Energy Agency (RREA).

The kick-off meeting has been followed by field work consisting of a survey to precisely assess local energy needs.

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