Aswan High Dam
Location: Egypt
Operator: Hydro Plants Electricity Production Co
Configuration: 12 X 175 MW Francis
Operation: 1967-1971
T/G supplier: LMZ, Voith, Electrosila
EPC: Hydropower Institute
Quick facts: The High Dam is up to 111m high and it is almost 1,000m long. Construction began in 1960 and one third of the total cost (estimated to be over $1bn) was provided by the Soviet Union: 400 Soviet engineers were used on the job. In July 2003, LMZ and Voith Siemens Hydro were awarded a contract for the reconstruction of the 12 generators, a program expected to last six years. The €85-million program is funded by KfW. Lake Nasser, the multipurpose reservoir behing the dam, is about 565 km long.  In areas now partially inundated were temples built by Egyptian pharaoh Ramses II around 1200 BC. During the construction of the High Dam, some of the temples were moved -- a unique and difficult job -- but other monuments were submerged causing worldwide comment.

Awash II & III
Location: Ethiopia
Operator: Ethiopian Electric Power Corp
Configuration: 4 X 16 MW Francis
Operation: 1966-1971
T/G supplier: Voith, Elin
Quick facts: The three Awahs plans were the first large hydro power stations built in Ethiopia.  The units at Awash II and III were overhauled by Ingea.

Photograph courtesy of Ingea spol sro
Posted 25 Aug 2007

Gilgel Gibe I
Location: Ethiopia
Operator: Ethiopian Electric Power Corp
Configuration: 2 X 61.3 MW Francis
Operation: 2004
T/G supplier: Voith
EPC: Enelpower, Electroconsult, Salcost
Quick facts: This plant is near Jimma 260km southwest of Addis on the Gilgel Gibe River. Development began in the early 1960s and the site was selected after planning studies in the 1970s and 1980s. Construction by a consortium of Ethiopian and North Korean firms began in 1988, but work stopped in 1994 before the dam was completed. In 1995, the government signed a new agreement with an Italian consortium to undertake an environmental impact assessment and complete design and construction. Funding from the World Bank was used to complete the plant. A 9.2km tunnel goes from the 40m dam to the powerhouse.

Photograph courtesy of Enel SpA
Posted 16 May 2004

Kapichira
Location: Malawi
Operator: Electricity Supply Corp of Malawi
Configuration: 2 X 32 MW Francis
Operation: 2000
T/G supplier: Voith, Impsa
EPC: TAMS Consultants

Photograph courtesy of American Consulting Engineers Council
Posted 25 Jul 2001

Khasm El Girba-2 Rebuild
Location: Sudan
Operator: National Electricity Corp
Configuration: 2 X 3.9 MW Kaplan
Operation: 1964
T/G supplier: Ansaldo
EPC: Enelpower

Photograph courtesy of Enel SpA
Posted 15 Feb 2004

Kidatu
Location: Tanzania
Operator: Tanzania Electric Supply Co
Configuration: 4 X 50 MW Francis
Operation: 1975-1980
T/G supplier: Voith, Listroj, Koncar

Photograph courtesy of Koncar
Posted 17 Aug 2004

Kiira
Location: Uganda
Operator: Uganda Electricity Generating Co Ltd
Configuration: 5 X 41 MW Kaplan
Operation: 2000-2004
T/G supplier: Kvaerner
EPC: Acres, Impregilo, Salini
Quick facts: Kiira  is on the Victoria Nile at Jinja and is slightly downstream of the Narubale plant (AKA Owen Falls). The Kiira extension project utilizes the head pond behind the existing concrete gravity dam to supply a new powerhouse on the opposite bank of the Nile via a 1.3km power canal. The plant is connected to the grid at 132kv.

Photograph courtesy of Hatch Ltd
Posted 10 Jun 2007

Lower Kihansi
Location: Tanzania
Operator: Tanzania Electric Supply Co
Configuration: 3 X 60 MW Pelton
Operation: 1999-2000
T/G supplier: Kvaerner, ABB
EPC: Norplan, Impregilo
Quick facts: This 25m dam on the Kihansi River, a tributary to Kilombero river, impounds a small reservoir. The dam is equipped with sediment flushing gates and an intake structure with trash-racks and gates. The intake connects to the headrace tunnel via a circular unlined 500m vertical headrace shaft.

Photograph courtesy of Matest
Posted 19 Mar 2006

Merowe Dam
Location: Sudan
Operator: Ministry of Irrigation and Water Resource
Configuration: 10 X 125 MW Francis
Operation: 2009
T/G supplier: Alstom
EPC: China International Water & Electric Corp, Sinohydro Corp, Harbin Power Engineering Co, Jilin Province Transmission and Substation Project Co, Lahmeyer International
Quick facts: At completion, this had been the largest hydro construction project in Africa and it was China’s largest overseas electricity project to date. Construction started in Jun 2003. The scheme is at the Nile’s Fourth Cataract and has a 60m concrete dam approximately 520m long supported by rock- and earthfill dams on either side stretching 11km in total. In Aug 2001, the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development, and other development funds in Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, Oman, and Saudi Arabia pledged a total of €560mn to the Merowe project. The China Import Export Bank later added €240mn with the Sudanese government expected to make up the balance for the €1.2bn project. Resettlement is required for up to 70,000 people affected by dam and reservoir construction. A 400km, 500kV transmission line runs from the site to a new 220kV substation at Khartoum. The first two units went commercial in Mar 2009.

Photograph courtesy of China Intl Water & Electric Corp
Re-posted 19 Jul 2009

Naga Hammadi
Location: Egypt
Operator: Hydro Plants Electricity Production Co
Configuration: 4 X 16 MW bulb
Operation: 2008
T/G supplier: VA Tech
EPC: Lahmeyer, Orascom Construction, Vinici, Bilfinger-Berger
Quick facts: The 330m long dam at Naga Hammadi in Upper Egypt replaces a structure built between 1927 and 1930. The seven-gate dam raises up to 8m for irrigation and hydroelectric power. The £445 project included a 1.1km canal and a 23km, 220kV line to connect to the grid.

Nalubaale
Location: Uganda
Operator: Uganda Electricity Generating Co Ltd
Configuration: 10 X 18 MW Kaplan
Operation: 1954-1969
T/G supplier: Boving, GEC
EPC: Kennedy & Donkin, Christiani and Nielsen Ltd, Dorman Long and Co, Edmund Nuttall Sons & Co, Hollandsche Beton, Internationale Gewapendbeton, K L Kier and Co Ltd, Nederlandsche Aanneming, Bato
Quick facts: The history of central station electric power in Uganda began after World War II when Egypt and the British government (on behalf of Kenya, Tanganyika, and Uganda) renewed planning for integrated development of the Nile River for water and power supply. In 1947, Sir Charles Redvers Westlake recommended to the Colonial Government of Uganda that a hydroelectric dam be built at Owen Falls near Jinja, and this in turn led to the establishment of the Uganda Electricity Board (UEB) in 1948 with Westlake as its first chairman. The dam and first six sets were completed in 1954 at a cost of about £21mn. The Owen Falls dam and power station was opened by Queen Elizabeth on 1 May 1954  The photo shows Vice President Richard Nixon visiting the dam in 1957. The complex was later renamed.

Photograph by Mark Kauffman (Life archive on Google)
Posted 7 Mar 2009

Nkula Falls A
Location: Malawi
Operator: Electricity Supply Corp of Malawi
Configuration: 3 X 8 MW Francis
Operation: 1966-1967
T/G supplier: English Electric
EPC: Knight Piesold
Quick facts: Voith Siemens is leading a refurbishment project at the "A" plant which will result in a slight increase in output.

Photograph courtesy of Voith Siemens Hydro
Posted 3 Aug 2005

Tekeze
Location: Ethiopia
Operator: Ethiopian Electric Power Corp
Configuration: 4 X 75 MW Francis
Operation: 2009
T/G supplier: China Wanbao Engineering Co
EPC: MWH, Energoproject-Hidroinzenjering, SinoHydro, China Gezhouba Construction, Sur Construction
Quick facts:  In mid-2001, EEPCo issued a bid to build a 300-MW power plant at the TK5 site on the Tekeze River in Tigray state 80km west of Mekele. This project had a lengthy history as the engineering consortium for Tis Abay-II produced feasibility studies, designs and tender documents for a plant that turned out to be essentially on the border with Eritrea. This location was abandoned and the project was reborn at a different site. In Jun 2002, EEPCo awarded the EPC contract to CWGS Joint Venture. At the time, the $224mn contract was the largest cooperative project between China and an African country. The main structure is a 185m, double-curvature concrete dam which id now the tallest in Africa. Over 3,500 workers were involved in plant construction, of which 750 were expats from four countries. Power generation started in Aug 2009 despite the fact that the reservoir was not completely filled.

Photograph courtesy of Ethiopian Electric Power Corp
Posted 18 Nov 2009

Turkwel
Location: Kenya
Operator: Kenya Electricity Generating Co Ltd
Configuration: 2 X 54 MW Francis
Operation: 1991
T/G supplier: Neyrpic, Alsthom-Jeumont
EPC: Sogreah, Spie-Batignolles
Quick facts: This project was a major engineering accomplishment and includes a thin, double-cambered arch dam with a maximum height of 150m, a 5.5km headrace and penstock, and an underground powerhouse 250m deep. The project was built in six years and cost Ksh7.5bn, substantially more than originally estimated.