Africa-Press – Angola. The work to expand the capacity and evacuate the hydraulic circuit of the Luachimo hydroelectric dam, in Lunda-Norte, which began in December 2023, with a view to ensuring better drainage of river waters, has been completed.
Press found out this Monday, during an inspection visit to the Luachimo dam works, that the works carried out served to prevent the accumulation of sand in the hydraulic circuit (water intake, intake channel, loading chamber and return channel ).
According to the coordinator of the Medium Kwanza Development Office (GAMEK), Joaquim Garcia da Costa, the accumulation of sand in the circuit caused a breakdown in the fourth turbine, which forced the suspension of the final testing phase, in August 2023, to a deep intervention in the hydraulic circuit.
He said that the affected turbine is already being surpassed and specific work is taking place so that it enters the testing phase.
Of the four turbines, each with the capacity to produce 8.5 megawatts of electrical energy, making a total of 34 MW, three have already been assembled and have completed testing.
He stressed that definitive tests of the four turbines are scheduled for the end of the second quarter of this year.
He made it known that due to the improvement work, the energy project stopped producing and supplying electricity to the city of Dundo, with the Cacanda Thermal Power Station currently ensuring the supply of the product.
Budgeted at 212 million US dollars, the contract included the rehabilitation of mechanical equipment, execution of a new hydraulic circuit sized for 240 cubic meters of water per second, consisting of water intake, adduction channel, loading chamber and channel of refund.
A new 60 kilovolt substation was also built and the access road to the dam was remodeled, including the passage to the power station.
The plant’s new infrastructure is 35 meters high, the equivalent of an 11-storey building, installed in an area 50 meters long and 30 meters in cross section.
The old power station building was rehabilitated to serve technical education institutions, with the aim of being the first museum in the energy sector in Angola.
The project includes the recovery of the 85-kilometer high-voltage transmission line to the mining town of Nzagi, in the municipality of Cambulo, with an additional value estimated at 40 million dollars.
The last stage of the project foresees the expansion of the distribution network to the Lucapa headquarters, including the town of Calonda.
The transport line will also pass through the towns of Fucauma and Cassanguidi, taking into account the existence of economic activities, especially in the mining sector.
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