- LEC confirms Mt Coffee Hydro plant incident
- Issues statement clarifying the impact of the incident on electricity generation
- Says three units no longer covered by manufacturers warranty
The Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC) has confirmed the incident at the Mount Coffee Hydro Power Plant. The LEC clarified that only one turbine is out of service at the station in a statement issued. An earlier report had indicated that two turbines at the Mt Coffee station were out of service. The LEC also clarified that the station is producing 44MW of electricity on the three remaining turbines.
“Only Unit 1, at Mount Coffee, is currently unavailable having suffered a major failure in the stator windings.” the statement read.
In a shocking twist, the Liberia Electricity Corporation disclosed that three of the turbines are no longer covered by the manufacturer’s warranty. Instead, the turbines are now covered under the LEC’s insurance policy.
“Experts from LEC’s insurers, the Mt. Coffee Operation, Maintenance & Training contractor (HOI) and the Original Equipment Manufacturer (Voith) have all carried out detailed investigations and inspections on Unit No 1 (the faulty unit) to determine the root cause of the unit’s failure,” the statement read.
The statement also noted that the components from the damaged Unit 1 turbine had been shipped to Europe for specialist analysis and test. The company awaits a comprehensive report on the findings.