New schemes line up as Sierra Leone promotes baseload, off-grid options

Energy and water resources minister Oluniyi Robbin-Coker is trying to mobilise limited resources to build generation capacity and overhaul a decrepit transmission and distribution system. With demand from the mining industry rising and access to power at just 6%, the government has set an ambitious target of installing 1GW of capacity in the next seven years. Sierra Leone has 92MW of installed capacity, including the 50MW Bumbuna dam inaugurated in November 2009, though the country has an estimated 2GW of hydro potential.