Africa-Press – Angola. The first, of a set of three electricity generating blocks, from the Matala Hydroelectric Power Station, 180 kilometers east of the city of Lubango, Huíla province, now undergoing refurbishment, as part of the rehabilitation work of the respective equipment, enters in operation as early as June.
According to the project’s director-general, Pedro André Pascoal, the rehabilitation work on the equipment of the Hydroelectric Power Station, the substation and the electricity grid in the village of Matala generated 500 jobs.
The work is budgeted at 106.9 million euros and the official added that the action includes the lighting of over 3,000 homes, compared to the current 7,000. The work to modernize the power generators, under the responsibility of the Public Electricity Production Company (PRODEL), is proceeding smoothly and should last 36 months.
Each generating unit, capable of supplying electricity to more than 18,000 homes, will have the capacity to supply 13.6 Megawatts (MW) of energy, making a total of 40.8 MW. Pedro André Pascoal said that the real power remains, however, the novelty lies in the fact that, with the work in progress, one more generating unit will be added, against the two that worked in the past.
The Matala Hydroelectric Power Station was built 60 years ago, with generating blocks that were also inoperative for years. The refurbishment works will renew production and supply capacity.
industrial park
The governor of Huíla, Nuno Mahapi Dala, has already indicated that the investment should have a major social and economic impact on families. The province of Huíla has more than three million inhabitants and lacks enough electricity to meet all needs.
Huíla, assured the governor, has a very strong industrial park and needs energy to have a great development. “When the power increases, it will serve the entire region that is interconnected to the Matala production line”, he stressed, before highlighting that the project must also connect Huíla to the national distribution network, through the Gove Dam, in the province of Huambo.
“The interconnection project is the definitive solution to the concerns with electricity in the province of Huíla, and this is our definitive solution, which we are all hopeful of”, assured the governor,the supply of electricity to the city of Lubango, but defends that the same attention be extended to all municipalities.He revealed that generators were acquired which are susceptible to breakdowns.
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