Status Under construction Surface area 5.5 km² Impound Cuanza River | Opening date October 6, 1963 Impounds Kwanza River Construction began 7 October 1959 Spillway 7 | |
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Similar Laúca Dam, Capanda Dam, Zongo Dam, Keddara Dam, Koudiat Acerdoune Dam | ||
The Cambambe Power Station is a hydroelectric power plant of the Kwanza River on the border of the Cuanza Norte and Bengo provinces in Angola. It has a power generating capacity of 180 megawatts (240,000 hp), enough to power over 120,535 homes. Hydroelectric plants generate over two thirds of Angola's electricity.
The construction of Cambambe dam was started on October 7, 1959 and finished in 1963
In April 2007, Odebrecht in a consortium with Voith, Alstom and Engevix, was hired by the Empresa Nacional de Electricidade, to carry out the project of rehabilitation, expansion and modernization of dam. The project includes the heightening of the structure by 30 meters, the modernization of the generating units of the Central 1, replacing the four 45 MW turbines by four 65 MW turbines, and the construction of a new plant, called Central 2, with four generating units of 175 MW each, for a total of 700 MW. The works in Central 1 started in March, 2009 and in Central 2 in 2013.
On June 30, 2016 the first turbine of the Central 2 began to generate electricity.