Angola's Kambambe Dam Being Modernized

Angola’s Kambambe dam, on the Kwanza River in Malanje province, currently capable of producing 45 megawatts, is installing more modern turbines. When the new turbines come online later this month, the Kambambe dam’s electrical output will rise to 65 megawatts.
 
According to Douglas Paulino Duarte, an official involved in the modernization project, a total of four turbines are being assembled under the Kambambe dam modernization program, Luanda’s Agência Angola Press reported.

Modernization efforts on the Kambambe dam, located in Kwanza-Norte province, started last year. When the modernization work is completed in 2012, the dam’s electrical production will surge to 260 megawatts and help ease the country’s chronic electricity shortages, according to Angolan Minister of Energy and Water, Emmanuela Vieira Lopes.
The government is also renovating a second dam in Uije province. Constructed between 1958 and 1962, the Uije dam currently houses four turbines with a capacity of 45 megawatts each, but two of them have been inoperative since 2009. When the modernization work is complete the facility will be able to increase its output by 80 megawatts.

Hydroelectric plants generate over two thirds of Angola's electricity. Angola has 23 power stations, of which 15 are hydroelectric facilities. Besides renovating Kambambe dam, the government is considering a second facility at the site, capable of generating 700 megawatts.

By. Charles Kennedy, Deputy Editor OilPrice.com