The Karuma (600MW) hydro Power project has registered yet another milestone – the installation of the radial gates at the dam section. This installation commenced on the morning of 26th January, 2018 according to Mr. Deng Changyi – Acting project Manager, Sinohydro Corporation the project contractor.
The spillway of Karuma hydropower station is designed (with) 9 radial gates, whose main function is to control orifice flow, undertake blocking main water, and can be opened and closed during flood conditions to prevent overtopping of the dam. Each of these gates has a height of 9metres, 10metres wide, and weighs 54 tonnes. Despite this huge size and heavy weight, these gates are designed to flip and hold a huge resistance to water pressure. Mr. Deng, confirmed that the installation of all the gates was done successfully and within the agreed project timelines.
Commenced in 2013, Karuma Hydro power project was scheduled for a 60 months construction period. Today, it’s crossed the 50th month mark and is expected to be commissioned in December this year. By the end of January 2018, the overall progress of physical works (civil, hydro-mechanical and electrical-mechanical) at Karuma HPP was
about 74%. Concrete works for dam blocks #1 to #16 are practically completed paving way for the installation of spillway sections at blocks #1, #2 and #3. At the intake, work progress is at 95% with concrete casting nearing completion. Installation of Hydro-mechanical equipment for gates at intake block 1 and back filling are the main activities currently on-going.
To ensure quality is not compromised at this project, a team consisting of UEGCL, Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development, the supervising engineer Energy infratech Pyt Limited (EIPL) and the contractor Sinohydro left for China earlier in January to conduct Factory Acceptance Test (FAT) on the following equipment; Intake maintenance gates, Outfall maintenance gates, spillway stop logs, Generator Step Up Transformer, Intake trash rack gantry crane among other equipment. Upon successful completion of these tests shall this equipment be shipped to site for installation.
The 600 Megawatt Project is financed partly by China’s Exim Bank and the government of Uganda at 85% and 15% respectively. The total cost of the project is USD 1.7 billion catering for the generation and transmission components at USD 1.3 billion and USD 400 million respectively. There will be three transmission lines to evacuate the Karuma Power; the longest being Karuma-Kawanda, Karuma- Lira and Karuma-Olwiyo. Uganda Electricity Transmission Company Limited UETCL is implementing the transmission component of the project.