Official name Masinga Power Station Purpose Power Opening date 1981 Surface area 120 km² Construction began 1978 | Status Operational Height 60 m Owner Tana River Impound Tana River | |
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Similar Kindaruma Hydroelectric Power St, Sondu Miriu Hydroele, Mwea National Reserve, Olkaria II Geothermal Power St, Olkaria I Geothermal Power St | ||
Masinga Hydroelectric Power Station, also Masinga Dam, is an embankment dam on the Tana River, the longest river in Kenya. It straddles the border of Embu and Machakos Counties in Eastern Province and is located about 100 km northeast of Nairobi.
Contents
Construction of the dam began in 1978. The dam was completed in 1981. It is owned by Tana and Athi Rivers Development Authority (TARDA). The dam is used for power production and is part of the Seven Forks Scheme.
DamEdit
Masinga Dam is a 60 m tall and 2,200 m long embankment dam. The volume of the dam is 4,950,000 m³. The dam contains a spillway and a bottom outlet.
ReservoirEdit
At full reservoir level (maximum flood level of 1,056.5 m) the reservoir of the dam has a surface area of 120 km² and its total capacity is 1,56 billion m³. Minimum operating level is normally 1,037 m. On June 26, KenGen shut down the power plant because the operating level had fallen to 1,035.5 m. At the time of the closure the plant had been producing 14 MW.
Because of its large volume, the reservoir is crucial in regulating the flow of water for the other 4 hydroelectric power plants downstream.
Power plantEdit
The run-of-the-river hydroelectric power plant went operational in 1981. It is owned by TARDA, but operated by Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen). The plant has a nameplate capacity of 40 MW. Its average annual generation is between 128 (in 2008) and 232 (in 2007) GWh, depending on the water flow of the Tana River.
The power plant contains 2 Kaplan turbine-generators with 20 MW each. The turbines were provided by Escher Wyss, the generators by ABB. The maximum hydraulic head is 49 m, maximum flow per turbine is 45.9 (45) m³/s.
MiscellaneousEdit
Capital cost of the dam was USD172 million.
Feasibility studies were made in the 1970s and they confirmed the viability of a cascade of hydroelectric power plants along the Tana River: Masinga, Kamburu, Gitaru, Kindaruma, Kiambere, Karura, Mutonga, Low grand Falls, Usheni, Adamsons Falls, and Kora. Only the first five of them have been built so far.
Plans to raise the dam by 1.5 m in order to increase the volume of the reservoir up to 2 billion m³ were finally cancelled. The cost would have been 15 mio. USD.