By Sylvester Samba.
The Minister of Energy, Alhaji Kanja Sesay, keeps informing journalists and residents of Freetown that there is enough electricity generation on the ground. “The only problem we are having at the moment is the poor network capacity that we presently have to transport the generated electricity to the people and industries”, Minister Sesay said.
Speaking to journalists after the completion of seven (7) hours tour of electricity facilities in the East end of Freetown, the Energy Minister said the Karpowership is providing 120MW through Kingtom Power Station for onwards distribution/transmission in the capital city. He said the power is provided from the Ship through twelve (12) machines with 10MW each.
The Minister furthered that, another source of energy generation is through the Bumbuna Hydroelectric with 50MW which they usually receive during the raining season. “The third main source of energy for the city is the Black Hall Road Power Station which hosts two (2) giant machines with 8.2MW… In the entire Freetown, we just need a pick load of about 85MW which shows clear indication that we have enough electricity generation capacity on the ground” he noted.
The Energy Minister maintained that, the government of President Julius Maada Bio has made and still continues to make frantic efforts to not only generate enough electricity but to also ensure that power reaches the people and industries that need it. In achieving this, the Minster said there is ongoing massive rehabilitation on the distribution/transmission networks with in its Power Stations, Substations, replacing old cables, poles, switches etc. This he sad is done with the help of donor partners and the government of Sierra Leone.
Other major issues that are greatly affecting sustainable distribution/transmission of electricity to all are the massive illegal connection and the vandalization and theft of energy materials that are in operations at various stations/points.
On Monday 7th June, 2021, the Management of the Ministry of Energy and the Electricity Distribution and Supply Authority (EDSA) took journalists on a tour to get firsthand information for themselves on the way some people are bent on destroying and stealing EDSA facilities costing government huge sums of money to replace them.
In the area of illegal connection, the Minister said such an ugly act can cause pressure on the transformers that can either lead to low voltage or burnt down completely. It can also make the government to lose billions of Leones. He added that theft on its facilities can deprive communities from energy supply.
