Africa-Press – Angola. The Angolan Executive invested 106.940 million euros in renewing the equipment of the Matala Hydroelectric Power Station, its substation and the electrical network of the town, which is 180 kilometers east of Lubango, Huíla province.
The objective is to respond to the increased need for consumption in the provinces of Huíla and Namibe, which share a combined cycle, and to address the production deficit recorded over recent years, which has placed the two provinces in a situation of need.
According to a press release from the Ministry of Energy and Water, this week, for the first time in 20 years, the three turbines of the Matala Hydroelectric Plant come into operation simultaneously, which increased their power to 51 megawatts, 21 above capacity previous production.
The Matala dam, the note reads, will bring more energy to communities in the provinces of Huíla and Namibe, as well as reducing the “large” sums of money that the government spends daily on purchasing fuel for the thermal power plants in Canguinda and Arimba (Lubango), as well as Chitoto (Namibe).
With this asset in operation, monthly diesel consumption in Huíla drops from 16 million liters in December 2022, to seven million in April 2024, while in Namibe consumption, in the same period of time, exceeds seven million of liters in December 2022 to 3.6 million.
In total, these three plants use 66 million, 977 thousand, 280 liters/year, which costs the State 13 million, 395 thousand, 456 Kz/year. With this clean energy and the gradual deactivation of these plants, around 214,327,296 tons/year of carbon dioxide will no longer be emitted.
Inside the Use of Matala
The Matala Hydroelectric Plant is one of the 14 dams that the country has and began to be built in 1954, at the time with an installed production capacity of 18 MW.
Installed on the Cunene river, located near the town of Matala, in the province of Huíla, after its inauguration it was renamed Barragem Salazar, crossed by a bridge nine hundred and twenty-nine meters long and with two decks, one for cars and another for trains.
The construction of the dam would, in itself, generate small neighborhoods for its employees, in the image of other companies, which is why at the time an urbanization plan was drawn up for Matala, designed by the architect Vasco Morais Soares. Connections to other cities and settlements made the urban network created in the territory clear.
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