Nalubaale Power Station
Encyclopedia
White Nile
The White Nile is a river of Africa, one of the two main tributaries of the Nile from Egypt, the other being the Blue Nile. In the strict meaning, "White Nile" refers to the river formed at Lake No at the confluence of the Bahr al Jabal and Bahr el Ghazal rivers...
near to its source at Lake Victoria
Lake Victoria
Lake Victoria is one of the African Great Lakes. The lake was named for Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, by John Hanning Speke, the first European to discover this lake....
in Uganda
Uganda
Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
. Nalubaale is the Luganda
Luganda language
Ganda, or Luganda , is the major language of Uganda, spoken by over sixteen million Ganda and other people mainly in Southern Uganda, including the capital Kampala. It belongs to the Bantu branch of the Niger–Congo language family...
name for Lake Victoria.
History
In 1947, Sir Charles Redvers Westlake (an English engineer) reported to the Colonial Government of Uganda recommending the construction of a hydroelectric dam at Owen FallsOwen Falls
The Owen Falls was a waterfall on the White Nile in Uganda near the city of Jinja, 4 km from the point at which the river leaves Lake Victoria. The falls, together with the nearby Ripon Falls were submerged in 1954 with the completion of the Owen Falls Dam that now accommodates a...
near the city of Jinja, which in turn led to the establishment of the Uganda Electricity Board (UEB), with Westlake as its first chairman. The dam was completed in 1954, submerging Ripon Falls. It supplies electricity to Uganda and parts of neighbouring Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
and Tanzania
Tanzania
The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
. Maintenance and availability of the station declined seriously during the government of Idi Amin
Idi Amin
Idi Amin Dada was a military leader and President of Uganda from 1971 to 1979. Amin joined the British colonial regiment, the King's African Rifles in 1946. Eventually he held the rank of Major General in the post-colonial Ugandan Army and became its Commander before seizing power in the military...
.
Before that, water levels on Lake Victoria were moderated by a natural rock dam on the north side of the lake. Rising lake waters would spill over the natural dam into the White Nile, which flowed through Uganda, Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
, and Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
before emptying into the Mediterranean Sea
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
. When water levels dropped too low, flow into the river ceased. When the current dam was built, a treaty between Uganda and Egypt ensured that the natural flow of the Nile would not be altered by the dam.
The rating of the Nalubaale power station is 180 megawatts (MW). Originally it was designed for ten turbines rated at 15 MW each (giving a total of 150 MW). The station was refurbished in the 1980s to repair the accumulated wear from a decade of civil disorder. During the repairs, the output power of the generators was increased.
In 1993 work started on the Owen Falls Extension project, a second powerhouse located about 1 km from the 1954 powerhouse. A new power canal was cut to bring water from Lake Victoria to the new powerhouse. Major construction was completed in 1999 with first power from the project from two units in 2000. The extension has space for five hydroelectric turbine
Turbine
A turbine is a rotary engine that extracts energy from a fluid flow and converts it into useful work.The simplest turbines have one moving part, a rotor assembly, which is a shaft or drum with blades attached. Moving fluid acts on the blades, or the blades react to the flow, so that they move and...
generators
Electrical generator
In electricity generation, an electric generator is a device that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy. A generator forces electric charge to flow through an external electrical circuit. It is analogous to a water pump, which causes water to flow...
with three installed as of 2003. Each unit at the extension has a capacity of 40 megawatts. During official opening ceremonies in 2003, the extension was named the Kiyira Power Station. Design and project management of the extension project was by Acres International (now Hatch Ltd
Hatch Ltd
Hatch is a global multidisciplinary management, engineering and development consultancy. Its group companies have more than 10,000 staff in 65 offices on six continents....
), Canada.
Operators of Nalubaale Power Station must regularly clear water hyacinth
Water hyacinth
The seven species of water hyacinth comprise the genus Eichhornia. Water hyacinth are a free-floating perennial aquatic plant native to tropical and sub-tropical South America. With broad, thick, glossy, ovate leaves, water hyacinth may rise above the surface of the water as much as 1 meter in...
from the intakes of the stations. Further hydroelectric development in Uganda is controversial because at least one technically feasible site (Bujagali Hydroelectric Power Station) is of great cultural importance.
Since January 2006, hydroelectric generation at Nalubaale and Kiira stations has been curtailed due to a prolonged drought and low level of water in Lake Victoria. The hydrology
Hydrology
Hydrology is the study of the movement, distribution, and quality of water on Earth and other planets, including the hydrologic cycle, water resources and environmental watershed sustainability...
of Lake Victoria has unusual features. But the lack of rainfall may not be the only reason water levels fell. Environmental groups and some Ugandan water officials told the media that the power company operating the dam on the White Nile may have pushed too much water through to meet rising demands for electricity. Because 30 million people rely on Lake Victoria for fishing, transport, electricity, and tourism, the drop in water levels had a big impact on the region.
In 2006 there was a release of secret documents from 1956 in Britain that indicated the British had considered using this dam to reduce the water in the Nile in an effort to remove Egyptian President Nasser. The plan was not carried out because it would have greatly damaged some allies such as Kenya and Uganda, and the effect of shutting off the Nile's source would not have affected Egypt for at least 16 months.
See also
- Energy in UgandaEnergy in UgandaBurning of renewable resources provides much of the energy in Uganda, though the government is attempting to become energy self-sufficient. While much of the hydroelectric potential of the country is untapped, the government decision to expedite creation of domestic petroleum capacity coupled with...
- Kiira Power StationKiira Power StationKiira Power Station, sometimes spelled Kiyira Power Station, is a hydroelectric power station with an installed capacity of 200MW, in Uganda.-Location:...
- Bujagali Power StationBujagali Power Station-Location:The power station is located across the Victoria Nile, about north of Jinja immediately north of the former location of Bujagali Falls. This location lies at the border between Buikwe District to the west and Jinja District to the east...
- List of hydropower stations in Africa
- List of power stations in Uganda