Investing in Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone is ready and open for business

Sierre Leone is “buoyant” and has good reason to be. The Big 5 initiative in place amid prolonged social and economic stability is seeking to enrich the population in numerous ways, and all rely on sustainable and nationwide access to power.

Upon this backdrop, there is huge excitement having mobilised a $1 billion commitment to the sector in recent weeks, compounded by around $500 million pledged by the Millennium Challenge Corporation board towards the country’s energy sector reform strategy.

These groundbreaking partnerships reflect three years of hard planning, compiling a vision that will ultimately add 1GW to the grid in the next 10 years. This is despite the country only needing 650MW of internal demand. But, such is the ambition, they have also considered their regional interconnectivity responsibility within the reform plan.

The country’s Just Energy Transition plan will come online in the coming months, earmarking the route to this 1GW, encompassing regulations, forming a more attractive landscape for private investment, derisking the sector to that private contingent, and pinpointing the new and upgrade projects that will push Sierra Leone towards its ultimate goal.

Already, initial projects have been earmarked to expand the transmission backbone along both the southern and northern transmission corridors, ensuring more seamless evacuation of power across the country. A new dispatch centre will also aid the reliable evacuation of this power, implemented in tandem with a focus on the last mile and bringing power to households and businesses in urban areas more effectively.

The vision has the blessing and encouragement of the main off-taker – the utility, EDSA – the government, and, increasingly, the investment community who are finding Sierre Leone very much open for business.

As part of the country’s reform, there will be a huge focus on renewables, as demonstrated by the planned upgrade of Bumbuna 1 Hydropower Plant. Adding 120MW in total, 60MW of that will be driven by a solar installation. The additional generation will double renewable capacity and significantly increase renewables to 57 percent of the energy mix. It will also increase the electricity access rate to more than 60 percent and provide grid electricity to an additional 1.5 million Sierra Leoneans.

This is just one of numerous new and upgrade projects encompassed within the reform plan, and – vitally – this doesn’t just implicate households and city-based businesses. The premier industrial sector of mining is also deeply entrenched in the plan, with the industry seeking to evolve in tandem with the country’s power vision.

Opportunities in hydro, solar and gas as part of a diverse and open-minded approach to fully leverage the country’s mining strength, while adhering to its green agenda and enriching the population, promises for an exciting future.

Across the country’s homes, businesses and most important industries, the call to the wider continent and the investment community around the world is clear: “we are not only open, but we are ready for business!”