The Ruachimo Hydroelectric Dam, a US$212 million China-funded project in Angola’s Lunda Norte province, will soon be fully operational.
According to Joaquim Costa, director of the project for infrastructure rehabilitation and expansion, acceptance testing of the equipment to prepare the first two turbines for start-up has already begun.
According to Costa, the first two turbines capable of generating 17 megawatts of electricity have already been installed, and the assembly of the other two turbines with the same output is more than 60 percent complete.
Testing of gates, railings and sound systems consists of verifying the suitability of equipment, he added.
The project, funded by a credit facility from China, will increase the energy capacity provided by the infrastructure from 8.4 megawatts (MW) to 34 megawatts (MW), with approximately 50% of the energy produced remaining in reserve. increase.
With four generator sets of 8.5 megawatts each, the project will expand energy to benefit the 186,000 inhabitants of the cities of Dando, Cambro and Lucapa (including the towns of Hukauma, Kasangidi, Rukiiro and Karonda). can.
In addition to household connections benefiting more than 9,000 households in Phase 1, the project will provide around 30 industrial connections.
Currently, 17,950 customers in Chitato Municipality of Lunda Norte are powered by a 30 MW thermal power plant, while nine inner municipalities are supplied with generator sets, which serve about 10,000 households. It’s paying off, reports CLBrief.
