HYDRO RWANDA NYABARONGO HYDROPOWER PLANT RAMPS UP RWANDA’S GENERATION Invested capital of $100 million has added 30% to Rwanda’s current installed generation capacity. With construction 100% complete and successful dry and wet runs, the project was commissioned on 31 October 2014. S ▼ ince the start of construction in house on a terrace on the right bank. 2009, the Nyabarongo River With an elevation of 1 430m to utilise hydropower dam, reservoir, surge a nominal gross head of about 63m, the shaft, tunnel and power house have been power station generates 28MW of power. built using the most modern technology A 110 kV 27km transmission line has also sion to add an additional 30% to Rwanda’s been constructed for extraction of the installed generation capacity. y. The project generated power. is part of the government’s seven-year electrification plan that aims to ENGES AL CHALL increase electricity access to o 70% OGRAPHIC changes the 2m riverbed GE ight raphical by 2017. sed dam he Due to geog in an increa upstream ion resulted the aggradat as shifted on dam axis w rrain in the DEVELOPERS, FINANCIAL of 2m. The ne. Rocky te fault zo ged to avoid the s as envisa SUPPORT AND PARTNERS side shaft area e and surge level wer INVESTED $100 MILLION power hous at a much lo e found to be slope warded The Government of Rwanda awarded in DPR wer oring for the ble anch resulted in ca d surge the project tender to a consortium m which er house an e een the pow orts for surg of Angelique International Limited d terrain betw e steel supp bank also structur ’s right HEL) and Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) shaft and On the dam 40m depth. quiring a supervised by RSWI, a Canadian n shaft up to to be soil, re to discovered ock added terrain was engineering consulting firm, to the ncrete bl additional co d undertake the 28MW hydropower drift well an e dam. project with the required capital complete th investment of $97.7 million. The project was funded by a soft loan of $80 million from the Government rnment of India and provided by the Export- rtrt Import Bank of India. The Government of Rwanda contributed $17.7 million under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) funds supported by the Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies (MEFP). However, due to an outdated feasibility study this was increased by a further $11.1 million and covered by the Government of Rwanda under the MEFP. ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION The Nyabarongo hydropower scheme located in Muhanga District on the Nyabarongo River involved the construction of a 44.5m high concrete gravity dam located at the start of the river loop, a 1.2 km long Head Race Tunnel (HRT), surge tank and a surface power PROJECT CHALLENGES RESULTED IN EXTENDED DEADLINE: • Rough, hilly and rugged terrain. • A long rainy season which hampered construction. • Settlers around the project had to be relocated with compensation before they vacated the surrounding land. • Due to an outdated feasibility study (conducted almost a decade before) the geological parameters had to change, leading to design modifications and a 14 month extension of the construction contract. • As Rwanda is a land-locked country all the equipment had to be transported via road and new roadways had to be created to access the Nyabarongo dam site. • Immigration challenges and delays in issue of work permits for key personnel. The Nyabarongo hydropower station, which is Rwanda’s fourth and largest hydropower plant, requires a specialised skilled workforce for the operation to be sustainable. A ma maintenance team of 26 employees has bee trained onsite to manage the site been com competently when the dam is operating to its full capacity. OPE OPENING UP PRIVATE SECTOR DEVE DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES Mohi Mohider Pratap Gupta, Director & Joint Pres President of Angelique International Limit Limited, explained during an exclusive interv interview at the inaugural iPAD Rwan Forum that ‘Rwanda is a Rwanda progr progressing economy with enormous infras infrastructure activities coming up espe especially in the power sector. Rwan has great potential for hydro Rwanda proje projects and much of this potential is curre currently untapped’. Rece Recent developments in the country have seen the restructuring of the national utility, the Energy Water and Sanitation Authority, to create a focused corporation, Rwanda Energy Group Limited. Setting clear objectives to oversee the country’s energy projects aimed at obtaining rapid results. Jean Bosco Mugiraneza, Chief Executive Officer of the national utility, Rwanda Energy Group Limited, highlighted at the iPAD Rwanda Forum in November that working with the private sector was imperative to meet national generation capacity and connectivity targets. ‘We are committed to partner and work with the private sector to provide transparent frameworks and open up vast business opportunities that adhere to Rwanda’s planned generation growth of 563MW, with a 70% household connectivity rate by 2017.’ ESI Hydro wall Nyabarongo 52 ESI AFRICA ISSUE 4 2014