A US-based not-for-profit utility cooperative, Bandera Electric Cooperative, was awarded a contract to electrify a community in Liberia using a solar-plus-storage microgrid. The project will benefit around 400 homes and businesses.Bandera Electric Cooperative will carry out the project in Totota, located in eastern Liberia.
The award came from the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), an overseeing body for all of the US’ not-for-profit utility cooperatives.NRECA said the total project cost would be $600,000, with NRECA pledging to fund two-thirds of that sum and appealing to the public to donate the rest. Such a project could prevent “economic stalemate” for Totota’s residents, the association said.
Bandera Electric Cooperative subsidiary BEC Solar has designed a 70-kW solution, which includes 220 solar panels and 90kWh of lithium-ion battery energy storage, alongside diesel backup generation.