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Floating island causes brief shutdown of Nalubaale dam
Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces marine soldiers remove and divert some of the floating Island disrupting power generation at Nalubaale Dam in Jinja on May 21, 2024. PHOTO/DENIS EDEMA
What you need to know:
- While the hydro-power station is operational, its main infrastructure is said to be fragile. The 150-megawatt dam remained Uganda’s only hydro-power station until 1993 when construction of the 200-megawatt Kiira hydro-power station commenced. It was completed in 2003.
The Uganda Electricity Generation Company Ltd (UEGCL) yesterday temporarily shut down the Nalubaale hydro-power station in Jinja as its engineers and UPDF marine soldiers cleared a floating island, mostly made of water hyacinth.
The floating island, according to UEGCL’s head of communication and corporate affairs Mr Enock Kusasira, was eventually redirected eastwards where it was fragmented and flashed through the spillway gates of the Kira hydro-power station.
“Floating islands consist of floating vegetation and soil; when these reach at the intake of the powerhouse, the soil carried by these islands, choke the water cooling systems of the generators and result in reduced water flow to generate electricity, and generators shutting down,” Mr Kusasira said in a telephone interview.
About affected dam
Nalubaale Dam, formerly known as Owen Falls Dam, is one of legacy projects of the British colonial administration. Commissioned 69 years ago, the dam was designed to have 10 turbines, but when electricity generation started in 1954 only four turbines were operational.
While the hydro-power station is operational, its main infrastructure is said to be fragile. The 150-megawatt dam remained Uganda’s only hydro-power station until 1993 when construction of the 200-megawatt Kiira hydro-power station commenced. It was completed in 2003.
Mr Kusasira, however, said last evening that Nalubaale had been switched on “and the two dams are fully operational.”
Umeme takes action
The electricity distributor, Umeme, immediately warned that the emergency shutdown would affect power supply in the Kampala Metropolitan and surrounding areas.
“Our supplier, the Uganda Electricity Transmission Company Limited (UETCL), has informed us of a floating island at the Nalubaale and Kira dams, which has necessitated a shutdown of the two plants,” the company said.
The Umeme Manager for Public Relations and Media Relations, Mr Stephen Illungole, quoting their technical team, said, Nalubaale and Kira dams have been shut down to facilitate flushing the floating island.
“The remaining hydropower plants have been maximised, thermal maximised and we are not able to service all the demand. Necessitating that we carry out emergency load shedding until the floating island has been flushed,” he added.
Mr Philip Davis Malaba, an electro-mechanical consultant, said if the mass of the floating island is extensive, it becomes a risk and obstruction to the normal operation of the turbines and could damage them.
“So, the hydropower generators shutdown the turbines that are in the risk path to clear or remove the vegetation from the water and when all is clear they restart the turbines... power interruption is inevitable,” he said.
