Qualla: Mount Coffee Hydropower Project

Mount Coffee Hydropower Project: Introduction

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

In July 1990, rebel forces under Charles Taylor's command seized the Mount Coffee dam and shut off both electricity and water to Monrovia. With that single act, a million people lost power and clean drinking water simultaneously. The dam on the Saint Paul River had taken years to build and seconds to weaponize -- and it would take more than a quarter century to bring it back to life.

Mount Coffee Hydropower Project: A River Harnessed for a Young Nation

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The project began in 1963, when the Liberian government secured a World Bank loan to develop a $24.3 million hydroelectric facility on the Saint Paul River, about 21 miles northeast of Monrovia. Construction started in 1964 under the Monrovia Power Authority, with Raymond Concret...

Mount Coffee Hydropower Project: The Dam as a Weapon

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

When Taylor's National Patriotic Front of Liberia swept through the countryside in 1990, Mount Coffee was an obvious target. Controlling the dam meant controlling Monrovia's lifeline. Rebel forces seized the facility, and the intake dam was destroyed on one end. Over the years of...

Mount Coffee Hydropower Project: The Long Road Back

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Rebuilding Mount Coffee became a test of Liberia's capacity to recover. In 2007, the U.S. Trade and Development Agency provided $400,000 to study the feasibility of restoration. Engineers found the dam's main structure sound but the surrounding facilities devastated, with an esti...

Mount Coffee Hydropower Project: Power Restored, River Running

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

In December 2016, the first of four new turbines was dedicated and commissioned, each with a capacity of 22 megawatts. The full rehabilitation was completed in 2018, bringing the plant's total installed capacity to 88 MW -- more than doubling Liberia's entire power-generating cap...