Officers in Angola introduced that the Laúca hydroelectric energy station is now absolutely operational, with Austrian firm Andritz wrapping building of the ultimate 70-MW environmental move energy station on the web site on the Kwanza River.
Andritz constructed and put in all of the models on the 2,070-MW plant, situated on the border between the Angolan provinces of Cuanza-Nord and Malanje. Development of the 132-meter-high, 1,075-meter-long dam started in 2013. The station is owned by Gabinete de Aproveitamento do Médio Kwanza, or GAMEK, an organization that’s a part of the Angolan Ministry of Water and Vitality.
State-owned electrical energy firm ENE operates the hydropower plant, which incorporates a 270-meter-long powerhouse. Brazil-based Odebrecht Engineering and Development (OEC) has served as lead contractor for the challenge.
$4.3 Billion Funding
Andritz mentioned the Laúca plant can produce as a lot as 8,640 GWh of electrical energy yearly, and is “the spine of recent grid regulation in Angola, offering sufficient electrical energy to fulfill the demand of round 8 million Angolan households.” The $4.3 billion challenge was financed by the Angolan authorities together with exterior buyers, together with funding from Brazil; the Improvement Financial institution of Southern Africa; Normal Chartered, a UK-based multinational financial institution; and Gemcorp Capital, an funding firm additionally primarily based within the UK.
The primary turbine at Laúca, a 335-MW Francis unit, was commissioned in 2017. The final of the six generators in use on the web site got here on-line in 2020. The plant is related to Luanda, Angola’s capital, by way of a 400-kV energy transmission line that gives 500 MW to that metropolis. Luanda, like many areas in Africa, has struggled to take care of a dependable provide of energy.
“The challenge introduced stability to energy provide and drastically decreased blackouts, considerably decreased the consumption of fossil fuels, supported the nation’s financial growth and improved the standard of lifetime of greater than 8 million individuals,” mentioned Matheus Gontijo, contract supervisor for Odebrecht, in an earlier interview concerning the challenge.
Main Piece of Energy Technology System
The Laúca plant is among the many largest hydropower stations on the continent, with comparable producing capability to the two,075-MW Cahora Bassa hydroelectric facility in Mozambique.
Officers mentioned the Laúca station is a part of an Angolan energy technology system serving 10 provinces that features the Cambambe (700 MW), Capanda (520 MW), Mabubas (26.8 MW), and Lomaum (50 MW) hydroelectric vegetation. It additionally contains the 750-MW Soyo pure gas-fired combined-cycle energy plant, and is predicted to incorporate the 500-MW Soyo II combined-cycle plant. Soyo II, at present below growth, is predicted on-line in 2025. GE Energy will provide 4 gas-fired generators, and two steam generators, for Soyo II.
One other giant Angolan hydropower challenge, the two,170-MW Caculo Cabaca plant, is predicted to be commissioned subsequent 12 months. Development of that $4.5 billion facility started in 2017. It’s situated at São Pedro da Quilemba, close to town of Dondo, in Cuanza Norte Province, and financed by a gaggle of Chinese language banks, together with China Gezhouba Group Co. Ltd., and the Industrial and Industrial Financial institution of China.
Officers mentioned Caculo Cabaca challenge, together with the Laúca dam, may present about 45% of the nation’s goal technology capability outlined within the Angola Imaginative and prescient 2025 technique. That plan, adopted in 2015, requires growing the nationwide electrification charge by about 60% from 2015 to 2025. The plan has a goal of 9,900 MW of put in energy technology capability within the nation by the center of this decade, with at the very least two-thirds of that output from hydropower.
—Darrell Proctor is a senior affiliate editor for POWER (@POWERmagazine).
