- LERC has issued its first Micro Utility Permit to the Totota Electricity Cooperative.
- The Totota mini-grid project is a solar-diesel hybrid plant that has a capacity of 140KW.
- The system operates for 19 hours daily, with an average load of 25kW and a peak load of 59kW.
The Liberia Electricity Regulatory Commission (LERC) has issued its first Small Composite Micro Utility Permit under the Micro Utility Licensing Regulations (MULR). The Commission issued the Permit to the Totota Electric Cooperative (TEC) to generate and distribute electricity to customers within Totata City, in lower Bong County.
The Totota mini-grid project is a solar-diesel hybrid plant that has a capacity of 140KW. The project was developed by the National Rural Electrification Cooperative Association (NRECA) in partnership with USAID. The project was completed in March 2018 and handed to the Totota Electric Cooperative for operations. The system operates for 19 hours daily, with an average load of 25kW and a peak load of 59kW. TEC’s daily energy consumption is 500kWh.
The Totota Electric Cooperative has 347 customers of which, 253 are residential, 69 businesses, 4 schools, 3 clinics, and 18 others such as churches, mosques, offices etc. In 2020 the system had a 96 per cent reliability operating for 6,556.9 hours out of the schedule 6,786.5 hours.
At the permit issuance, the Chairman of the Board of Commissioners of LERC, Dr Lawrence D. Sekajipo, called on development partners and donor agencies to replicate the TEC model in other unconnected counties across Liberia.