Sierra Leone Contracts Professional Electricity Company For Power Supply in Dry Season

Government through the Ministry of Energy has contracted the services of Aggreko Electricity Company for six months to fill in the gap during the dry season, to further improve electricity distribution in the cit. The Minister of Energy, Ambassador Henry Macauley recently, during a media brief, assured people of Freetown that 2015 would be the last year Sierra Leoneans will experience power outages during the dry season.

This dream was to become a reality in 2016, but hopes were dashed as the ministry was not able to fulfil its commitment to provide continuous power to Freetownians.

However, as residents continue to cope with the problem, the ministry was not complacent about the challenge to provide electricity, as it sought the services of Aggreko Electricity Company as stop gap measure, while spares were being procured to carryout routine maintenance on the thermal machines brought in by the Japanese Government.

At Black Hall Road power station, Minister Henry Macauley, accompanied by his two deputies and other senior ministry officials including board members of both EDSA and EGTC, were taken on a conducted tour of the temporal power generation facility, which will provide 10 megawatts of electricity to parts of the western area and 10 megawatts to parts of the east.

According to the Chief Engineer, Aggreko Sierra Leone, Phil Craven, the contract to provide power is for six months, using 11 thermal power generators with a fuel tank of 200, 000 litres and two transformers; the entire operations is fully automated, making it easy for staff to manage the machines.

Questioned on possible extension of the contract, Ambassador Macauley confirmed that by the end of six months, the Japanese thermal plants would have been up and running and there would be no need to continue the contract.

On the issue of Bumbuna, the Energy Minister assured newsmen that plans are well under way for Bumbuna phase II, and hopefully with other interventions, Sierra Leone will not be the darkest place on earth, noting that it is the dream of Government to ensure that every corner in all 149 chiefdoms receives affordable electricity.

After the tour, Mr Craven informed the Minister and team that the machines will provide Freetown with the much needed power, but it will not be on a 24 hour drive, noting that only 10 megawatts is being produced.