Engineers in last round tests ahead of Karuma Dam completion
Construction of Karuma dam started in 2013. By the end of 2024, it would have been constructed for over 10 years. PHOTO | FILE
What you need to know:
- Once finished, the country’s installed capacity is expected to reach at least 2,000 MW.
Successful synchronization of the final sixth turbine (generation unit) of Karuma Hydropower Dam pushes the project to completion, the Uganda Electricity Generation Company Ltd (UEGCL) has confirmed.
On February 6, UEGCL noted that unit 5 was successfully synchronized to the national grid.
“This makes it the 6th and last generating unit to undergo all the operational tests for readiness. The 1st unit completed its trial run and grid connection tests on 21/03/23,” a February 6, 2024 UEGCL post on X explains.
But success of the synchronization tests does not mean that the plant’s overall construction works are complete for commissioning, UEGCL spokesperson Enock Kusasira told Monitor.
“Those units were synchronized but those are just tests. Synchronization in this case means that you design, fix, and work on several things on a generation unit, put in a turbine, and put so many things and try on the grid to see if it can add power to the grid,” Kusasira explained.
By January 24 when the dam’s Project Steering Committee (PSC) led by Eng Badru Kiggundu visited the plant to conduct their monthly technical inspection schedule, 5 of the 6 units at the plant had completed test and trial runs.
While the plant is yet to undergo several stages of testing before it is deemed complete for its commissioning, Kusasira now emphasizes that at least 200MW are currently being added onto the grid as trial power.
“There is power on the grid from Karuma dam but it has not been commissioned. This is just power in the trial period but when put on the grid it is consumed,” he clarified as he further dismissed media reports that the plant was already completed and generating full capacity power onto the national grid.
“We add power on the grid but it is trial (interim) power, before you can continue with the secondary tests,” he added.
According to Kusasira, synchronization is the most important test to confirm that the units can generate and put power on the grid, but there are other tests yet to be done.
Meanwhile, Uganda’s energy ministry has previously indicated that Karuma Hydroelectric Station, the country’s largest power-generating infrastructure, will be ready for commissioning by September 2024.
The construction of the 600MW power station in Kiryandongo District along the Nile began in December 2013.
Although the project was originally estimated at $1.7 billion (around Shs6trillion), the price has recently risen to Shs8.1trillion. It was expected to be completed in 2018 but the project experienced unprecedented delays and extensions.
In November 2022, Parliament okayed government’s proposal to borrow over Shs1.2 trillion from the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) to support the country’s energy access scale-up project.
Once finished, the country’s installed capacity is expected to reach at least 2,000 MW.
Karuma interconnection
In March 2023, Uganda’s energy minister Ruth Nankabirwa commissioned the Shs1trillion Karuma interconnection project, setting it ready for electricity termination from Karuma Dam, once completed.
Uganda contracted Sinohydro Corporation Limited to construct the 600MW Karuma Hydropower Dam and the associated Karuma Interconnection Project (KIP).
Under KIP, the 400/220kV Kawanda substation, Karuma - Kawanda 400kV Transmission Line, 400/132/33kV Karuma Substation, Karuma-Olwiyo 400kV Transmission Line, 132/33kV Olwiyo Substation, 132kV switchyard extension of the Lira 132/33kV Substation and the Karuma-Lira 132kV Transmission Line was to be built.
Of the budgeted $246.4million loan from Exim Bank and $43.486 million (by the government), $225.8 million and $43.486 million representing 91.6per cent and 100 per cent respectively have been disbursed for the KIP.
