Freetown, SIERRA LEONE – In 2022, Sierra Leone’s Electricity Distribution and Supply Authority (EDSA) faced significant challenges, recording a staggering 18,231 electricity supply interruptions.
The frequency of these outages has been on the rise since 2019, although the duration of each interruption has been decreasing, as reported by the World Bank’s Sierra Leone Economic Update.
The country’s transmission network is severely constrained, limiting its capacity to transport electricity from generation sites to areas of demand. Currently, there exists only a single circuit 161-kilovolt line that serves as the main conduit from the Bumbuna hydro plant to key urban centres such as Makeni, Magburuka, and the capital city, Freetown. Additionally, the CLSG 225 kilovolt regional transmission interconnection line provides power imports to the southeastern urban centres of Kono, Kenema, and Bo.
Freetown stands out as the major load centre with a peak demand of approximately 100 megawatts (MW). However, design limitations on the existing transmission infrastructure have resulted in voltage drops along the route, preventing the line from operating at full capacity.
This situation, the report stated underscores an urgent need to address transmission bottlenecks to enable Sierra Leone to benefit from cheaper power imports and reduce its dependency on costly heavy fuel oil supplies.
For those households and businesses fortunate enough to have access to electricity, reliability remains a significant issue compounded by high end-user tariffs. EDSA currently connects about 320,000 consumers to its distribution network, but this system is plagued by overloaded networks, ageing infrastructure, poor maintenance practices, and a lack of advanced operational techniques. Only two out of ten households can access four or more hours of electricity daily. Alarmingly, over 60% of firms report experiencing at least four outages lasting up to nine hours each month.
Given these persistent supply constraints and the anticipation of future demand growth, both households and businesses have increasingly turned to alternative power sources like diesel generators. This shift comes with a heavy financial burden; nearly 62% of firms in Sierra Leone rely on generators for over a quarter of their power needs. The combination of unreliable service and soaring costs highlights the critical state of Sierra Leone’s electricity sector, necessitating urgent reforms and investments to enhance generation capacity and improve transmission and distribution networks for a more reliable energy future.
Credit: Awoko
