Masinga Hydroelectric Power Station, also Masinga Dam, is an

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 and ...

on the Tana River, the longest

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the ...

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

. It straddles the border of

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 Embu, also known as Kîembu, is a Bantu language of Kenya. It is spoken by the Embu people, ...

and Machakos Counties in Eastern Province and is located about 106 km. (66 mi.), by road, northeast of

Nairobi Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city prope ...

, Kenya's capital and largest city. 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.

Dam

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 A spillway is a structure used to provide the controlled release of water downstream from a dam or levee, typically into the riverbed of the dammed river itself. In the United Kingdom, they may be known as overflow channels. Spillways ensure t ...

and a bottom outlet.

Reservoir

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 million 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 plant

The

run-of-the-river Run-of-river hydroelectricity (ROR) or run-of-the-river hydroelectricity is a type of hydroelectric generation plant whereby little or no water storage is provided. Run-of-the-river power plants may have no water storage at all or a limited amo ...

hydroelectric power plant went operational in 1981. It is owned by TARDA, but operated by

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 ...

(KenGen). The plant has a

nameplate capacity Nameplate capacity, also known as the rated capacity, nominal capacity, installed capacity, or maximum effect, is the intended full-load sustained output of a facility such as a power station,

of 40 MW. Its average annual generation is between 128 (in 2008) and 232 (in 2007)

GWh A kilowatt-hour ( unit symbol: kW⋅h or kW h; commonly written as kWh) is a unit of energy: one kilowatt of power for one hour. In terms of SI derived units with special names, it equals 3.6 megajoules (MJ). Kilowatt-hours are a common b ...

, depending on the water flow of the Tana River. The power plant contains 2

Kaplan turbine The Kaplan turbine is a propeller-type water turbine which has adjustable blades. It was developed in 1913 by Austrian professor Viktor Kaplan, who combined automatically adjusted propeller blades with automatically adjusted wicket gates to a ...

-generators with 20 MW each. The turbines were provided by Escher Wyss, the generators by

ABB ABB Ltd. is a Swedish-Swiss multinational corporation headquartered in Zürich, Switzerland. The company was formed in 1988 when Sweden's Allmänna Svenska Elektriska Aktiebolaget (ASEA) and Switzerland's Brown, Boveri & Cie merged to create ...

. The maximum

hydraulic head Hydraulic head or piezometric head is a specific measurement of liquid pressure above a vertical datum., 410 pages. See pp. 43–44., 650 pages. See p. 22. It is usually measured as a liquid surface elevation, expressed in units of length, ...

is 49 m, maximum flow per turbine is 45.9 (45) m³/s.

History

Capital cost of the dam was US$172 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 US$15 million. In February 2018, KenGen resurrected plans to raise the Masinga Dam wall by , and install pumping equipment to recycle the downstream water discharge back to the dam for steady electricity output though the dry seasons. The

French Development Agency The French Development Agency (french: Agence française de développement, AFD) is a public financial institution that implements the policy defined by the French Government. It works to fight poverty and promote sustainable development. This pub ...

(AFD) agreed to lend the KSh21 million (€169,000) required to conduct a fresh feasibility and environment impact assessment. AFD selected EDF Group, a

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with France ...

company to carry out the study. Heavy rains beginning in March 2018 led to major flooding throughout the Tana River area. On 17 May 2018, it was announced that the Masinga dam had reached capacity and had begun to overflow one week after the deadly failure of a smaller embankment dam in

Solai Solai is a town in Nakuru County, Kenya. It is located about thirty kilometers north of the county capital, Nakuru. Lake Solai lies to its north. Administratively, Solai is a location in Solai division of Nakuru County. Solai location has a p ...

. While safeguards in place prevented the dam from failing, other dams downstream had already reached capacity and authorities advised the evacuation of the towns of

Garissa Garissa ( so, Gaarrisa) is the capital of Garissa County, Kenya. It is situated in the former North Eastern Province. Geography The Tana River, which rises in Mount Kenya east of Nyeri, flows through the Garissa. The Bour-Algi Giraffe Sanct ...

Garsen Garsen is a small town located in Tana River County, Kenya. It is on the west bank of the Tana River. Location Garsen is located on the banks of the Tana River, in Tana River County, approximately south of Hola, the location of the county he ...

Hola In molecular biology, the δ (delta) subunit of DNA polymerase III is encoded by the holA gene in '' E. coli'' and other bacteria Bacteria (; singular: bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one bi ...

, and

Bura Bura may refer to: Places * Bura (Achaea), a city in Greece * Boura, Burkina Faso (disambiguation), also spelled Bura * Bura, Iran (disambiguation) * Bura, Taita-Taveta District, Kenya * Bura, Tana River District, Kenya People and civilizatio ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Masinga Dam Dams in Kenya Hydroelectric power stations in Kenya Embankment dams Dams completed in 1964 Energy infrastructure completed in 1964 1964 establishments in Kenya Reservoirs in Kenya Dams on the Tana River (Kenya) Embu County Machakos County

Dam

Reservoir

Power plant

History

See also

References