Liberian Hydropower Plant Operator Counts Again on the Training Offer of Voith HydroSchool

Both parties agreed lately to continue the training of the Mount Coffee hydropower plant staff in Liberia.

Already in 2016, the first 20 employees successfully completed the Voith HydroSchool training in the course of a plant modernization including different theoretical and practical phases. Lately, further 24 employees were trained during a three-month program for their individual tasks within the operation and maintenance of the plant.

Overall, the Mount Coffee trainings are one of the largest HydroSchool programs, which have been executed since the beginning of the technology group’s worldwide training program. “Voith stands for the relation between technology development and professional training of people in order to support the economic and social development of Africa and to reduce the worldwide CO2 emission at the same time”, says Heike Bergmann, Senior Vice President Sales Africa at Voith Hydro. “The cooperation with the Liberia Electricity Corporation at the hydropower plant Mount Coffee is a great example for this paradigm.”

Various hydropower knowledge in a compact manner
Whether it is about the modernization of turbines, the evaluation of a generator condition or automation and control technology – the HydroSchool offers to its trainees different courses to gain an extensive insight in the most important construction, manufacturing and operation concepts of hydropower plants. In total, the employees of LEC, engineers and technical staff, completed four courses in order to acquire various knowledge about the operation and maintenance of the plant. All courses contained theoretical and practical sessions whereof the practical part was executed in a unit within the Mount Coffee power plant. The trainers were special experts from Germany, Sweden and India.

Largest hydropower plant of Liberia
Built in the 1960s, Mount Coffee is the largest hydropower plant of Liberia with an output of 88 MW. Destroyed and plundered during the Liberian civil war, it got back into operation in 2017 after extensive modernization and increment works. Voith as a project partner delivered new Francis turbines and generators, the control technology as well as electrical and mechanical power plant equipment and qualified the local staff for the operation of the plant. In this manner, beside the technical part, Voith fulfilled an important contribution to the durable, efficient and safe operation.