The African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved funding for a rural electrification project aimed at supporting investment in the electricity industry to supply and enhance access rates in order to achieve Millennium Development Goals.
The main outcomes of the project will be the provision of electricity to an additional 8,350 customers and reduced inefficiencies in the system. The refurbishment of a mini hydro plant will generate an additional 2 MW power to reduce power outages to that extent during peak time.
Projects include areas in Lesotho, Mphaki, Hlotse, Maseru, and Mantsonyane. The project activities at Mphaki essentially relate to a pilot that has been initiated by the government in association with the Energy Poverty Alliance of the World Economic Forum (The Alliance Partners are Vattenfall, BBC Hydro, Eskom), which have committed resources to provide the project management support to develop an alternative model for electricity distribution in African nations in order to enhance the electricity access rate.
The pilot hopes to incorporate a cooperative model for electricity distribution, operation, and maintenance of assets by a collaborative society dubbed the Mphaki Electricity Distribution Association (MEDA). The purpose of MEDA is to operate and maintain the electric distribution grid and PV installations within Mphaki and Mount Moorosi areas of Lesotho. The AfDB website said, “In order for this to be possible, strong emphasis will be placed on training and empowerment of the local entity, including the identification of suitable persons to perform operative duties.”
The project at Hlotse will benefit the population of 23,122 as of 1996, which is predicted to increase to 27,859 (2020). The project encompasses the construction of a medium voltage network to supply an additional 1,500 customers including domestic and small business besides improving the quality of supply to existing customers, which have been facing a low quality supply problem.
Maseru will also involve the construction of medium voltage network to meet the requirement of upcoming bulk customers, namely new parliament house, shopping mall, etc. Overall, 5,000 additional customers will be connected to receive electricity from the national grid. The population of Maseru city will benefit from this substation in terms of the improved quality and reliability of supply compared to present situation. The population is forecast to increase to 500,000 (2020) from 137,837 (1996).
The AfDB hopes the projects will help support the government’s efforts in bringing back on-line 2 MW power generating capacity from the renewable energy source which has been dysfunctional from 2006 due to flooding of the plant. The plant will extend support to mitigate the peaking shortages due to storage.