Liberia's energy consumption
Liberia's energy consumption is characterized by a severe lack of access to publicly provided electricity, with estimates indicating that only about 50% of the population had electricity access as of 2022. The majority of power in the country is generated from privately owned gas-burning generators, hydroelectric sources, and biomass. Despite possessing significant potential for hydroelectric power, with facilities such as the Mount Coffee Hydropower Project and the Firestone Hydroelectric Power Station, much of the infrastructure has suffered from years of conflict and neglect. Approximately 33% of the electricity generated in Liberia comes from fossil fuels, while hydroelectric sources account for around 67%. The country’s reliance on foreign humanitarian aid and imports underscores its economic challenges, and efforts to rehabilitate the energy sector are ongoing, supported by international partnerships. The Liberian government has articulated a goal to increase electricity access to 70% of the population by 2030. Overall, Liberia’s energy landscape reflects the broader socio-economic struggles faced by the nation in the aftermath of civil unrest and ongoing developmental hurdles.
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Liberia's energy consumption
Official Name: Republic of Liberia.
Summary: Liberia’s impoverished population has no access to publicly provided electricity. Most power comes from privately owned gas-burning generators, the burning of biomass, or hydroelectric power. Liberia has one of the lowest levels of electricity access in the world.
The Republic of Liberia is on the west coast of Africa and is one of the only sub-Saharan nations without political roots in the European “scramble for Africa,” a period of rampant European colonization during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Liberia was established in 1847 by freed American slaves; the capital city, Monrovia, is named for President James Monroe, a supporter of the effort to establish a country for former slaves where they could govern themselves. Instability since a 1980 military coup has led to two civil wars and prolonged violence and economic despair, from which the country has not yet recovered. Liberia’s per-capita gross domestic product (GDP, purchasing power parity) was estimated in 2022 at $8.884 billion. Liberia ranks low (177th in the world) on the United Nations Human Development Index for 2022 (a measure of human well-being that takes into account such factors as life expectancy, literacy, education, and standard of living).
Natural Resources
The Liberian economy has long depended on natural resources—timber, iron ore, and rubber—and foreign direct investment. The wartime economy exported the area’s diamond resources, and for several years Liberian diamond exports were sanctioned by the United Nations because of the government’s role in exporting “blood diamonds” from Liberia to Sierra Leone and Angola in exchange for weapons. War profiteering ruined the country’s infrastructure: Monrovia was without water or power when the first postwar government was elected. Although the diamond ban was lifted in 2007 and contracts for the export of iron ore have been signed, the country remains deeply dependent on foreign humanitarian aid and annually imports nearly $5 billion in goods while exporting less than $1 billion. Inflation has fallen since the civil wars, but interest rates remain high. An Ebola epidemic in 2014 and 2015 further taxed the country's government and society.
Electricity
No Liberians have access to publicly provided electricity, and if they have power at all, they obtain it from a gas-burning generator of their own. As of 2022 only about 50 percent of the population had access to electricity. About 33 percent of the electricity generated in the country came from fossil fuels in 2022 and about 67 percent came from hydroelectric power. A 1963 World Bank loan funded the construction of the Mount Coffee Hydropower Project on the Saint Paul River, which was completed in 1966. For years, it provided 64 megawatts of power, until it was extensively damaged in 1990 during the First Liberian Civil War. War prevented the possibility of repairing the plant until the twenty-first century, when the US Trade and Development Agency funded a 2007 study of the facility’s damage. Although the dam itself had suffered no structural damage, the bulk of the power generation facilities needed repairs estimated to cost close to $400 million. A repair and rehabilitation project on the facility began in 2014.
The Firestone Hydroelectric Power Station, the first hydroelectric facility built in the country, has been in operation since 1942 and was built to supply power to the American military during World War II. Although it was the only hydroelectric plant to survive Liberia’s civil wars, it has a generating capacity of only 4.8 megawatts.
The US Agency for International Development (USAID) sponsored the Liberia Energy Assistance Program, which ran from late 2006 to early 2009 and helped do some of the initial work in repairing Liberia’s electricity infrastructure. Prepaid metering was installed in low-income networks, the number of working streetlights was tripled, solar systems were installed at critical places such as schools and clinics, and electricity access was expanded to include 25,000 new rural customers. The Norwegian government entered into an agreement with Liberia in 2007, expanded in 2010, to help Liberia restore its electricity capacity. A thorough evaluation of the country’s situation was made, and cooperation agreements were drafted, covering electricity generation, distribution, and transmission, as well as institutional development. The support is expected to continue over the long term, as the situation in Liberia is dire enough that there is no quick solution to its problems. Liberia's government hopes to provide 70 percent of the population with electricity by 2030.
Bibliography
"Liberia." The World Factbook, Central Intelligence Agency, 31 July 2024, www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/liberia/#energy. Accessed 4 Aug. 2024.
Hetherington, Tim. Long Story Bit by Bit: Liberia Retold. New York: Umbrage Editions, 2009.
Olukoju, Ayodeji. Culture and Customs of Liberia. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2006.
Yusuf, Abdulfatah Abdu, et al. "A Comprehensive Review of Liberia's Energy Scenario: Advancing Energy Access, Sustainability, and Policy Implications." Energy Strategy Reviews, vol. 41, Jan. 2024, doi.org/10.1016/j.esr.2024.101295. Accessed 4 Aug. 2024.