The Lauca Hydroelectric Power Station is a hydroelectric power plant, under construction in

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

. Completed in 2020, it is the largest power station in the country.

Location

The power station sits across the Kwanza River at the border between Angola's

Cuanza Norte Province The Cuanza Norte Province ( en, North Cuanza; umb, Konano Kwanza Volupale) is province of Angola. N'dalatando is the capital and the province has an area of 24,110 km² and a population of 443,386. Manuel Pedro Pacavira was born here and i ...

and Malanje Province. The Laúca Power Station, is located approximately downstream of the Capanda Hydroelectric Power Station. This is approximately by road, southeast of

Luanda Luanda () is the capital and largest city in Angola. It is Angola's primary port, and its major industrial, cultural and urban centre. Located on Angola's northern Atlantic coast, Luanda is Angola's administrative centre, its chief seaport ...

, the capital and largest city in the country. The geographical coordinates of Laúca Hydroelectric Power Station are:09°44'22.0"S, 15°07'33.0"E (Latitude:-9.739444; Longitude:15.125833).

Overview

Construction of the biggest hydroelectric power installation in Angola began in 2012. The first 338 megawatts generator of the 2,070 megawatts power station was commissioned on 4 August 2017, when the power plant was officially inaugurated by President

José Eduardo dos Santos José Eduardo dos Santos (; 28 August 1942 – 8 July 2022) was the president of Angola from 1979 to 2017. As president, dos Santos was also the commander-in-chief of the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA) and president of the People's Movement for the ...

, the president of Angola at that time. In July 2019, the fifth turbine, out of six main generating units, was installed. The power generated is integrated into the national electricity grid and supplies energy to approximately 8,000,000 customers in Angola. The project has provided over 8,000 direct jobs during the construction phase.

Technical specifications

The tall

roller-compacted concrete Roller-compacted concrete (RCC) or rolled concrete (rollcrete) is a special blend of concrete that has essentially the same ingredients as conventional concrete but in different ratios, and increasingly with partial substitution of fly ash for Po ...

dam will withhold a reservoir of , with a surface area of . The reservoir will supply two

hydroelectric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and ...

power stations, a main and an ancillary. The main will contain six 338 MW

Francis turbine The Francis turbine is a type of water turbine. It is an inward-flow reaction turbine that combines radial and axial flow concepts. Francis turbines are the most common water turbine in use today, and can achieve over 95% efficiency. The proces ...

-generators and the ancillary a single 42 MW Francis unit. The ancillary power station will operate most often, to maintain a minimum ecological flow of the river. Later, the specifications were modified to six 338 megawatts generators for the main and one 42 megawatts generator for the ancillary.

Funding

The dam and power station will cost US$4.3 billion. In the beginning the project received partial funding from the

government of Brazil The Federal Government of Brazil (''Governo Federal'') is the national government of the Federative Republic of Brazil, a republic in South America divided in 26 states and a federal district. The Brazilian federal government is divided in thre ...

. Following a corruption scandal involving the government of Brazil in 2016, that line of credit was terminated, leaving a funding gap. The government of Angola turned to commercial lenders in order to raise the necessary funding to complete the project. The table below illustrates the sources of funding for the Laúca Hydroelectric Power Station.

References

External links