GENERAL

In the execution of its mandate to provide adequate and reliable electric power to the nation at economically reasonable tariff, the Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC) operates and maintains two (2) distinct electrical power system, namely: the Monrovia Power system and the rural Electrification system. The Monrovia power system before the war supplied electricity to Monrovia and its outlying areas, extending to Kakata City , Tubmanburg City, and Buchanan City . Rural electrification before the war operated eleven (11) isolated diesel out stations with three under construction at the onset of the civil war, served the people who resided out side the Monrovia power system.

THE EVOLUTION OF LEC

In the early 1940s, the Monrovia Power system consisting of a single unit, serving the public. The unit was located at the corner of Carey & Lynch streets and was operated by Henry F. Luke, after whom the Luke Power plant at Bushrod Island is named. Monthly collection then never exceeded 16% of the monthly billing.

In the year 1949, the Government of Liberia (GOL) procured three 40-kW superior diesel generators through the United States Government Land Lease Program, and installed them at the Krutown power plant where the LEC central office is located today.

The Liberian company led by Commander William R. Trimble under contract with the GOL, replaced the Liberia Company and operated the Krutown power plant until 1960.

In June 1960, the Monrovia Power Authority (PUA) was created by law to consolidate and control the activities associated with power generation, transmission and distribution with the view to reducing system technical and commercial losses. The Stanley Engineering Company was hired by the GOL to manage the MPA. However, in 1964 Sanderson and Porter replaced Stanley engineering company. The GOL at the time preferred Stanley engineering company to carrying out the task of surveying, designing and supervising the Mount Coffee Hydroelectric project. //

With all of the LEC facilities damaged as a results of war, it became appropriate to effect the long awaited power system change, over which the years left Liberia as the only Country in Africa that operated power system base on North America standard of 60htz , 220/110v customer voltage.

In 1998, with funding with from the Danish Development Agency (DANIDA), a Danish Consulting firm NESA Team, carried out a power system conversion study. Today, Liberia has effectively converted its system from the North America standard to 50HTz 400/230V customer voltage.

Light, electricity, or current is necessary for the growth and development of any economy, especially the poor economies of Africa. Most people in these African countries do not have access to electricity. In 1996, the people of Sub-Saharan African countries had 28.4% access to electricity, and this access increased to 40.6% by 2021. In Liberia, this access increased from 3% in 1996 to 29.8% by 2021 (WB, 2023).

This access to electricity in Liberia is associated with costs, as no choice is without cost in any country or in any decision-making situation. High costs are associated with national decision-making in most African countries, with their respective money-driven decision-making situations. These situations are at once bad and very costly. They are bad because they are in the realm of bad governance. They are very costly because less costly choices could have been made. Less costly choices were not made and are not being made because the bad governance of state management remains corrupt. In the absence of electricity, most persons do not have access to schooling, health, food, and other basic needs.

Liberia is faced with three options in terms of access to electricity: two short to medium-term options and one long-term option. The first set of options come from the United States of America (USA) based company High Power Explanation (HPX) and the Turkish based company Karpowership. The long term option is from the CLSG Group of countries. HPX has a problem of access to the use of the railroad for transporting from ore from the Mifergui Mines from the Liberia-Guinea border to Liberia when the railroad is controlled by Arcelor Mittal, the world’s largest steel production company. All of the companies are profit-oriented. State management is Liberia is at once money-seeking and corrupt. The situation in Liberia forces State management to engage the first two companies because Liberia is seeking finance, even budgetary assistance. Yet, the State management is Liberia announces its preference for the CLSG option. What an irony!

A low power factor causes poor system efficiency. The total apparent power must be supplied by the electric utility. With a low power factor, or a high-kilovar component, additional generating losses occur throughout the system. //

The application of capacitor kilovars up to the no-load kilowatt-amperes results in a lagging power factor for all load conditions.

Look at the power triangle, kW kVA kVAR formula can be written as below,
kVA2 = kW2 + kVAR2

kVA = √ (kW2 + kVAR2)

Look at the above formula, the kVA is equal to the square root of the sum of the square of the kW and KVAR. //

kVAR is equal to the sin of power angle times of kVA.

kVAR = kVA * sin(φ)

or

Reactive power = apparent power * sin of power angle.
The power angle φ can be calculated by the cosine inverse of power factor //

kVAR is equal to the tan of kW. Hence the formula can be

kVAR = kW * tan (φ)

Reactive power in kilo volt-ampere reactive = kW * tan (power angle)

johnwalker 5d

nagle:
Norway is far enough along in this area that actuals are available.

Norway is, of course, an outlier both in its electrical generation and consumption per capita.

Around 95% of electricity generation in Norway is from hydroelectric power, and it is the largest producer of hydroelectric power in Europe. This is the result of a policy which has been in effect since 1892, and 90% of generation capacity is publicly owned.

Norway’s per capita electricity consumption is 24,182 kWh/year, ranking second in the world after Iceland (51,304 kWh/year). This is more than twice the U.S. at 11,267 kWh/year.

With abundant hydropower, electricity is the most common source for home heating and hot water, which has contributed to developing a grid which can support electric vehicle charging.

This isn’t to discount the value of the experience in Norway, where around 80% of new vehicle sales are electric, but their circumstances are unusually favourable to electric vehicles compared to countries without abundant base load hydroelectric power.

Mettelus > johnwalker 5d
From Euronews.com:

The number of fully electric cars in Norway exceeded 3 million in 2022, and the share of EVs among the total number of cars rose to 76 per 10,000 in 2021, up from only 2 per 10,000 in 2013.

Although new purchases are 80%, the total percentage of EVs is still very small. Successfully charging less than a percent of the vehicles is not a good indication of how it will go when 80% of the vehicles need to be charged. One car out of 100 can be charged at the bookstore.

Also, just a side note. In the McKinsey report they use EBITA and as Charlie Munger advised: Whenever you see EBITA, substitute BS. //

civilwestman 3d
I must wonder as to two practicalities in a place like Norway. According to a brief search, EV batteries lose 12 - 30 % of their range in cold weather - before the heater is turned on. Then, it drops around another 40%. I guess Norwegians just like the “cool” experience of gliding around in green vehicles. Are mink blankets an OEM option I wonder, like the Tsarist Russian troikas?

johnwalker

nagle:
Two islands with four chargers each can charge eight cars. Charging stations may be able to replace gas stations on the same real estate.

Current standards for electric vehicle charging stations have the following maximum power delivery:

• SAE J1772 DC Level 2 — 400 kW
• IEC 61851-1 — 80 kW
• Tesla NACS — 250 kW

(Again, these are maxima under the standards: many installed charging stations are lower power. A typical Tesla V2 Supercharger provides 120 kW.)

Plans for future higher power charging standards include the Megawatt Charging System 1 (MCS) with a rating of 3.75 megawatts (3000 amperes at 1250 volt DC).

Let’s compare this to a gasoline pump. A typical filling station pump in the developed world delivers around 50 litres per minute (38 l/min in Safetyland), and gasoline has an energy content of around 7500 kcal/litre depending on its formulation (around 5000 kcal/litre for pure ethanol and 8600 for #2 diesel). Plugging these into Units Calculator, we get:

(50 litres/minute) * (7500 kcal / litre) = 26.15 megawatt

so even the proposed MCS (which is primarily intended for large commercial vehicles and buses) delivers only around 1/7 the power of a gasoline pump.

Now, even getting installation of five megawatt electrical service is a pretty big thing in most places (that is the consumption of a very large office building), so it looks like building out an infrastructure which will allow electrical vehicle charging times competitive with gasoline filling will require very substantial upgrades to the power grid and local distribution facilities.

• NFPA 99 requires special protection against electrical shock in facilities designated as “wet procedure locations.”
• Wet procedure designations are based upon risk assessments that consider types of procedures conducted, electrical equipment deployed and liquid-mitigation protocols.

During a routine arthroscopic shoulder repair, an operating table’s electrical panel short circuited, causing the table to suddenly decline. The surgical team swiftly moved the anaesthetized patient to a transport trolley before concluding the procedure, avoiding a potentially catastrophic outcome.

All this happened while intravenous fluid was leaking onto the floor. Despite mopping and suctioning, the surgical team stood over a wet film of water — a truly hazardous situation.

Electrical accidents within operating rooms are rare. Still, this incident — documented recently in the Journal of Anesthesiology Clinical Pharmacology — demonstrates why electrical precautions must remain ever-present concerns.

Multi-functional power and energy meters meet ANSI C12.2 billing grade accuracy and are the ideal choice for the monitoring and controlling of power distribution systems. These revenue grade meters feature data logging capabilities, True-RMS parameter measurement, digital RS485 communication port, and are compatible with different current transformers.