The Gitaru Hydroelectric Power Station, also known as the Gitaru Dam, is a rock and earth-filled

embankment dam An embankment dam is a large artificial dam. It is typically created by the placement and compaction of a complex semi-plastic mound of various compositions of soil or rock. It has a semi-pervious waterproof natural covering for its surface ...

on the Tana River in Kenya. It straddles the border between

Embu Embu may refer to: Places ; in Brazil * Embu das Artes * Embu-Guaçu ; in Kenya * Embu, Kenya * Embu County Other

*Embu people of Kenya *Embu language, the Bantu language spoken by them {{Disamb, geo ...

and

Machakos Machakos, also called Masaku, is a town in Machakos County, Kenya. Serving as the capital of the county, its urban population was 63,767 as of 2019. History Machakos was established in 1887 by Sakshi Shah, ten years before Nairobi. Machakos ...

Counties in the former Eastern Province. The primary purpose of the dam is

hydroelectric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other Renewable energ ...

power generation. It supports a 225 megawatt power station.

Location

The power station is located approximately , by road, east of the town of

Mavuria The Eastern Province () of Kenya was one of 8 Provinces of Kenya. Its northern boundary ran along with that of Ethiopia; the North Eastern Province and Coast Province lay to the east and south; and the remainder of Kenya's provinces, inclu ...

in Embu County. This is approximately , by road, northeast of

Nairobi Nairobi is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Kenya. The city lies in the south-central part of Kenya, at an elevation of . The name is derived from the Maasai language, Maasai phrase , which translates to 'place of cool waters', a ...

, Kenya's capital city. The geographical coordinates of Gitaru Power Station are:00°47'43.0"S, 37°45'09.0"E (Latitude:-0.795278; Longitude:37.752500).

History

Construction of the dam began in 1975 and was completed in 1978. The third generating set, mobilizing the full potential of the power station was not commissioned until 1999. The

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

lent US$63 million towards the development of this power station. The station is operated by the

Kenya Electricity Generating Company Kenya Electricity Generating Company PLC abbreviated to KenGen, is a government enterprise in the Republic of Kenya charged with the production of electricity for the country. KenGen is the largest electric power producer in Kenya, generating ...

and is part of the Seven Forks Scheme.

Overview

The tall dam holds a reservoir. The relatively small reservoir relies on steady releases from the Masinga and Kamburu Dams upstream. The

reservoir A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to water storage, store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation. Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of wa ...

power station is located underground near the left

abutment An abutment is the substructure at the ends of a bridge span or dam supporting its superstructure. Single-span bridges have abutments at each end that provide vertical and lateral support for the span, as well as acting as retaining walls ...

and contains two 72 megawatt and one 81 megawatt

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 pro ...

-generators. Water released from the station is returned to the Tana at the Kindaruma Reservoir via a long tailrace tunnel. The difference in elevation between the reservoir and power station affords a net

hydraulic head Hydraulic head or piezometric head is a measurement related to liquid pressure (normalized by specific weight) and the liquid elevation above a vertical datum., 410 pages. See pp. 43–44., 650 pages. See p. 22, eq.3.2a. It is usually meas ...

of .

References

{{Tana River (Kenya) dams Energy infrastructure completed in 1999 Hydroelectric power stations in Kenya Dams on the Tana River (Kenya) Dams in Kenya Dams completed in 1978 Underground power stations Embankment dams Machakos County Embu County 1999 establishments in Kenya

Location

History

Overview

See also

References