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The first power generation test for Beles
Multipurpose Project, the hydroelectric power
project under the integrated team of Ethiopian
Electric Power Corporation (EEPCo) and Salini
Construction SPA will take place by late January
2010.
The 7.1 billion Br project, financed by the EEPCo
and loans from development partners, was started on
June 8, 2006. It will have a capacity of 460mw.
Currently, the tunnel breakthrough and installation
of electromechanical parts has been completed.
Presently the project
workers have started clearing out the tunnel rail
lines, water pipes, electric wires and
air-conditioning lines used during construction,
according to Kifle Horo, project manager of the
integrated team of EEPCo and Salini.
The completion of the tunnel, which runs 12km from
the water inlet on Lake Tana to where it gushes out
driving the turbines, was inaugurated on November 9,
2009. Tefera Walwa, minister of Capacity Building;
Alemayehu Tegenu, minister of Mines and Energy;
Ayalew Gobeze, president of the Amhara National
Regional State and Miheret Debebe, CEO of EEPCo were
all present. The project is located 130kms from
Bahir Dar, the government seat of the Amhara
National Regional State.
The tunnel boring machine digs 24 metres a day with
a diametre of 8.1 metres, according to Kifle.
Powered by electricity, the machine needed water and
air-conditioning to run smoothly underground.
There is a surge shaft incorporated into the design
which channels some of the high-pressure water
coming from the lake as it reaches the end of the
tunnel. Some of this water is directed up through
the shaft 20 metres in diametre and 94 metres high.
This protects the tunnel walls and turbines from the
direct pressure.
The water from the end of the tunnel falls down 275m
to four turbines in a powerhouse, each with a
capacity of 115mw. These turbines were bought from
Italy and Austria at a cost of 80 million Br. The
powerhouse has a control room, electromechanical
room (where the turbines are), four transformers, as
well as service rooms.
Each transformer sends 400kV of power on three lines
to the project’s switchyard station, which is
aboveground on top of the powerhouse. Only the
switchyard and the water inlet can be seen from
above.
This power will be transferred to the Bahir Dar
substation on 136 electric towers. These towers will
all be erected by January 2010, Dawit Belete,
supervisor at the powerhouse told Fortune.
The power will proceed from the substation onwards
to Sululta, on the outskirts of Addis Abeba, and
then to the national grid at Kaliti. Misikir Negash,
communication officer at EEPCo, says that the Beles
project will add 1,716 rural households to the
existing 3,386 in EEPCo’s rural electrification
project, in addition to the industrial clients and
urban households it will supply.
The water that will leave the turbines will join the
three lakes of Johanna, Kasaham and Lamb, all found
within a range of 7.3km. The water goes five
kilometres further to be used for irrigation, which
is why the project has been dubbed a multipurpose
one.
The project construction has been running non-stop,
24-hours-a-day, employing 500 workers in three
shifts, Abio Ciciotti, site manager at Salini
Construction SPA, told Fortune.
“It normally would have taken seven to eight years,”
he said.
If the testing goes successfully, the plant will
begin formal operation in March 2010. From that time
on, the project will serve the country for the next
25 years without any major interruption, Dawit told
Fortune.
Gilgel Gibe II and
Tekeze, with capacities of 420mW and 300mW
respectively are also expected to go fully
operational in 2009/10. Together with Beles, which,
according to Misikir is the largest project so far,
the total national power supply will grow to
2,054mW. When Gilgel Gibe III is completed it will
grow further to 3,270mW.
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