The Luachimo Hydroelectric Dam, a US$212 million project financed by China in Angola’s Lunda Norte province, is set to come into full operation shortly.
According to Joaquim Costa, the director of the project for the rehabilitation and expansion of the infrastructure, the acceptance tests of the equipment for the preparation of the start-up of the first two turbines have already begun.
The first two turbines, with the capacity to produce 17 megawatts of electricity, are already installed, and the assembly of the other two, with the same output, is over 60 per cent complete, Costa said.
The tests of the gates, railings and sound system, consist of verifying the conformity of the equipment, he added.
The project, financed by a credit line from China, will increase the energy capacity provided by the infrastructure from 8.4 to 34 megawatts (MW), and about 50 per cent of the energy produced will remain as a reserve.
With four generator sets of 8.5 megawatts each, the project will allow the expansion of energy for the benefit of 186,000 residents in the city of Dundo and in the municipalities of Cambulo and Lucapa, including the towns of Fucauma, Cassanguidi, Luxilo and Calonda.
In addition to household connections, which in the first phase will benefit more than 9,000 families, the project provides for around 30 industrial connections.
Currently, 17,950 customers, in the municipality of Chitato, in Lunda Norte, are supplied by a thermal power plant with 30 megawatts, while the nine municipalities in the interior are supplied with generator sets, which benefits around 10,000 families, CLBrief reported.
