HYDROELECTRIC DAM BUILT IN ANGOLA SET TO GENERATE 860MW POWER

The planned hydroelectric dam, to be built in the Cunene River basin, will generate 860 megawatts of installed power, said the project coordinator, Manuel Catumbela.

Speaking at the end of the visit of the Minister of Public Works, Urbanism, and Housing, Carlos Alberto dos Santos, to the section that will connect the planned Baynes Dam, the project coordinator said it is in the study update stage, and subsequently follow the evaluation models for the start phase, scheduled for 2024.

Manuel Catumbela said that the multi-sectoral visit to the section, which will connect Moçâmedes to the Baynes dam, in the municipality of Tômbwa, in a route of about 300 kilometers, aimed to assess, on the spot, the technical issues to have a safe construction of the energy infrastructure.

“With this section, all intervened, in terms of road, we will thus be able to have ease in transporting all the equipment for the construction of the Baynes dam, which will arrive via the Port of Namibe, to the mouth of the Cunene River and allow the works, in due time, to run smoothly,” he said.

According to the official, the project, in addition to producing electricity for Angola and Namibia, will also create jobs.

Manuel Catumbela pointed out that the project includes a compacted concrete dam of 200 meters, with an installed capacity for the production of 860 megawatts, generated from four generator sets of 215 megawatts each.

To fill the Baynes’ operating regime, according to the coordinator’s explanation, the construction of a second dam will be planned, to carry out the flow discharges, which will be observed at peak hours.

“These discharges will have a negative environmental impact and for this, a regularization dam was designed to mitigate these loads,” he said.

In this regularization dam will also be installed a plant with three units of six megawatts, making a total of 18 megawatts, which will join the 860, thus totaling 876 megawatts of power for this Baynes dam, according to the official.