Turkey’s Karpowership company has switched off electricity supply to Sierra Leone’s capital city Freetown over an outstanding debt of some $40 million, Per Second News gathered.
The Turkey firm has 36 powerships with a total of 6,000 MW of installed capacity, and powers towns and communities in more than 20 countries.
Sierra Leone’s debt was accrued over time because the government subsidises more than half the cost the ship charges per kilowatt hour.
As of 2021, only 15% of the total population in Sierra Leone and about 2.5% of the rural population had access to electricity.
The West African country’s power sector is small, with less than 150 megawatts (MW) of energy capacity connecting fewer than 150,000 customers, while the cost for electricity is heavily subsidized. The entire country lacks a stable and reliable public power supply and domestic demand remains significantly unmet.
Sierra Leone is also battling forex issues with one of the worst-performing currencies globally against the U.S. dollar.
