Recent developments are reported to have taken place in the African hydro industry.
•Thirty hydroelectric build-operate-transfer (BOT) projects are being planned on the Niandan and Cogon rivers in Guinea. A 42m high dam will be built at Niandan, with the production of 374GWh of electricity, while the Cogon scheme will produce 200GWh of power for the Guinean Bauxite Company.
•Over US$1.5B of finance is also being sought from China and Malaysia for the construction of two dams and hydro power schemes in Sudan. Sharif al-Tuham, the country’s minister of irrigation and water, said that more funds were being sought from unspecified private sources. The Kajbar project will have a generation capacity of 300MW and Merowe will provide 1000MW.
Much needed repair work has also been taking place at the country’s Roseires dam. The structure, which has been Sudan’s main source of power for three decades, has been targeted in the country’s recent civil war.
•Côte d’Ivoire is also planning to construct a 320-360MW hydro power plant at Soubre, on a BOT basis. Although the country’s rainfall has been declining and water levels have been low at many Ivorian dams this year, the project will still go ahead. Government sources have been quoted as saying that they did not want to put all their eggs in one basket, but wanted to strike a balance in their energy mix between thermal and hydro generation.