RREA Launches program to support Off-Grid Solar Electric Power
The Rural & Renewable Energy Agency (RREA) of Liberia will on Thursday and Friday, February 23-24, launch the Commercialization of Off-Grid Solar Electric Lighting in Liberia.
This launch which will be co-hosted by the World Bank Liberia Office, takes place at the Palm Spring Resort in Congo Town at 8:30am and will bring together officials of the Liberian Government, local and international development partners.
Also in attendance will be international manufacturers whose off-grid solar products have met the Lighting Africa Minimum Quality Assurance Standards and potential local retail partners who have expressed interest to participate in the pilot program.
The theme of this program, “Lighting Lives in Liberia,” is supported by a grant administered by the World Bank’s International Development Association through a program entitled Catalyzing New Renewable Energy in Rural Liberia; and a grant from the Global Environment Facility which is also administered by the World Bank.
Drawing on Lighting Africa, a joint World Bank/International Finance Corporation (IFC) initiative has been underway for five years and has already resulted in the access to modern off-grid lightning for 2.5 million people on the African continent.
In Liberia, the “Lighting Lives in Liberia” program will benefit an estimated 200,000 households and will be implemented by the RREA. The RREA was established by the Government of Liberia with the aim of facilitating the economic transformation of rural Liberia by accelerating the commercial development and supply of modern and renewable energy products and services.
The program will also support the commercialization of off-grid solar lighting products in the Liberian market and will seed the market with solar lighting devices that meet the Lighting Africa Minimum Quality Standards.
This will be driven initially through a pilot sales phase and then through a lantern exchange program. Intended beneficiaries are Liberians who currently rely on inferior and more expensive sources of lighting such as kerosene lamps, dry cell battery powered lights, Tiger generators, candles and others.
In March 2011 the Government of Liberia and the World Bank signed a US$2 million grant agreement to provide modern renewable energy services to off-grid users in Liberia.
Two pilot activities identified under the grant are (a) rehabilitation of a 60 kW micro-hydro power plant in Yandohun, Lofa County; and (b) establishment of solar off-grid rural electrification program in Liberia. The micro-hydro power project is ongoing, while the solar off-grid rural electrification program is being launched.
http://www.thenewdawnliberia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5293:rrea-launches-program-to-support-off-grid-solar-electric-power&catid=41:sciencetechnology&Itemid=69
Liberia: Low-income households to benefit from electricity connections
Published on: Thursday, January 26th, 2012
By Peterking Quaye
– The World Bank, acting as administrator for the Global Partnership on
Output-Based Aid (GPOBA), has approved a grant of US$10 million to
connect about 80,000 people to Monrovia’s electricity grid, raising the
electricity access rate in Liberia’s capital from 0.6 percent to 8
percent.
This was contained in a press release by
the World Bank, GPOBA funding will supplement capital allocations from
various donors to install connections, initially targeting 21 priority
low-income neighborhoods. The scheme will be implemented by the Liberia
Electricity Corporation (LEC), the sole power company in the country.
As
a result of the war, Liberia is one of the poorest countries in
Sub-Saharan Africa, with 64 percent of the population living below the
national poverty line. A decade and a half of successive armed conflicts
devastated the nation’s infrastructure and institutions, reducing
access to key services like electricity to practically zero. Most
households depend on expensive and polluting energy alternatives
including kerosene, dry cell batteries and diesel generators for
lighting and electricity needs. Households without access to grid
electricity are estimated to spend up to 50 percent of their disposable
income on energy-related expenditures.
“This
innovative output-based aid scheme will help the Government of
Liberia’s urgent goal to increase and improve access to electricity for
its citizens,” said Ohene Nyanin, World Bank Country Manager for
Liberia. “The project will help make access to electricity more
affordable by subsidizing the cost of connection and more inclusive by
explicitly targeting the poor.”
GPOBA
will pay LEC a capital subsidy of US$595 for each connection installed.
The connections made through the output-based aid (OBA) scheme will
help LEC increase its customer base and secure resources for further
investments in access programs. Also, the utility will be able to speed
up its goal to reduce tariffs and subsequently energy expenditure for
Liberian households. LEC estimates that for every 10,000 new customers
it acquires, tariffs will reduce by US$0.03-0.04.
Ultimately,
the savings made by households will help make more spending available
for other commodities and education. LEC will receive the subsidy
payment in two phases and in accordance with the OBA approach, only
after independent verification of household connections. 80 percent will
be paid after a connection in a priority neighborhood is made and
verified; and the remaining 20 percent will be paid upon verification of
proof of three months satisfactory service delivery to target
households.
“We hope that by using
this innovative and results-based approach–as part of a wider effort to
expand distribution and power generation capacity in Monrovia-we can
make affordable electricity connections a reality for all and help to
improve living conditions among the poor,” said Shahid Mohammad, CEO of
Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC).
The
GPOBA project is part of the Liberia Electricity System Enhancement
Project (LESEP). The scheme will be financed jointly by GPOBA (US$10
million), the Government of Norway (US$5.8 million), and user
contributions (US$0.8 million). LESEP is funded through a US$29 million
grant from the Government of Norway, a US$10 million IDA credit from the
World Bank and US$2 million grant from the World Bank’s Africa
Renewable Energy Access (AFREA) programhttp://www.shout-africa.com/news/liberia-low-income-households-to-benefit-from-electricity-connections/
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