January 29, 2025
Dar es salaam: Liberia's Minister of Mines and Energy, Honorable Wilmot J.M. Paye, has presented the Country’s Energy Compact in The Julius Nyere International Convention Center in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, at the Africa Energy Summit.
The Mission 300 Africa Energy Summit, a landmark gathering focused on accelerating energy access across Africa, hosted by the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania, and jointly convened by the African Union, the African Development Bank Group, and the World Bank Group. the Summit is an opportunity for governments, private sector leaders, development partners, and civil society to advance the ambitious goal of providing electricity access to 300 million people by 2030 (known as Mission 300). The Mission 300 is a target announced by the African Development Bank Group and the World Bank Group in April 2024.
Minister Wilmot Paye told the Dar es Salaam gathering that Liberia' Compact proposal proposes to address issues caused by inadequate energy infrastructure by increasing renewable energy share and investing in transmission and distribution. The Liberian Mines and Energy Minister, highlighted the impact of under-utilization of the Regional Electricity Network by increased utilization of the CLSG network, and expounded on issues caused by low distributed renewable energy (DRE), and low penetration of clean cooking by mobilizing private capital for distributed renewable energy solutions.
Minister Paye also informed the global body about opportunities missed by low private sector participation to unlock additional resources by ensuring transparency and predictability, while his presentation also addressed challenges caused by low financial sustainability of utility for reliable service.
Key commitments in Liberia's Energy Compact Minister Wilmot Paye’s presentation provided include, Increasing access to electricity for one hundred thousand (100,000) households per annum, sixty thousand (60,000) through grid connections, fifteen thousand (15,000) through mini grid connections, and twenty five thousand (25,000) through small household systems. The big idea, Minister Paye said, is that by 2030, 75% of Liberia's population would have access to electricity.
The Country’s Energy Compact also seeks to increase access to clean cooking by supporting adaptation of more than two hundred thousand affordable improved cook-stoves by households, increase Liberia's share of renewable energy to 75% by development of hydro resources – 60 Megawatt MCHPP extension, construction of 20 Megawatt solar PV plant at Mount Coffee, and 70 Megawatt of solar PV and Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) through independent power purchase (IPP) model.