Provisional reception of the memve’ele hydroelectric dam

PROVISIONAL RECEPTION OF THE MEMVE’ELE HYDROELECTRIC DAM

On February the 8th 2018, the Minister of Water and Energy was in Nyabizan for the provisional reception of the dam, after having presided over the impoundment ceremony on August 16, 2016.

On June 12, 2012, the President of the Republic, Head of State, Paul BIYA, laid the foundation stone in Nyabizan, Memve’ele. This marked the effective start of the construction of the Memve’ele hydroelectric dam.  Six years later, the government had to proceed to the provisional reception of this important infrastructure. The Electricity Sector Regulatory Agency (ARSEL) was represented at this ceremony by its Deputy General Manager, Mr. DEMENOU TAPAMO Honoré, and the Director of Studies, Mr NYOBE Samuel.

The hydroelectric dam at Memve’ele is a multi-faceted work. It consists of:

- a main embankment of 20m high, 10 m wide and 1850 m long;

- a main spillway, 81 m long, consisting of six sluice gutters able to evacuate exceptional 1000-year floods and consisting of five 11-m-wide gutters;

- a secondary spillway with a length of 104 m;

- a water intake structure on the left bank that feeds a supply canal 2.45 km long;

- a supply channel;

- a secondary reservoir;

- a production plant buried at 62.5 m under the ground with 4 penstocks and 4 turbines. Each turbine has a capacity of 52.75 MW. This gives a total capacity for the 211 MW plant ;

- one factory outlet with three (3) 11/225 kV two-winding transformer transformers and one (1) 225/30 / 11kV three-winding transformer.

The annual producible of Memve’ele is estimated at 1,187 GWh for a total cost of nearly 420 billion FCFA.

While it is true that the Memve’ele hydroelectric power station was the epicenter of the provisional reception ceremony, the fact remains that it is part of a set of works designed to deliver electrical energy in the South interconnected network (RIS).

The speeches made by the project manager and the Minister of Water and Energy (MINEE) showed that the construction work was 100% complete. What remains is the actual start of the production of electrical energy that is dependent on the completion of the construction of the Ebolowa-Mbalmayo 90kV line. Electricity will not be available until 2019 by September. This left the inhabitants of the district of Ma’an and the rest of population, which is anxiously waiting for the operationalization of the dam, with a feeling of incertitude.

In response to the different preoccupations raised by the people, the MINEE reassured them that the Government will do everything for the population to enjoy the benefits of electricity as soon as possible.

For ARSEL, the big lesson learnt was on the issue of tariff. In its studies on electricity tariffs to consumers, an injection of energy production from the Memve’ele power station had been taken into consideration in June 2017. But with the latest findings, it is necessary to anticipate the revision of the tariff granted to ENÉO.

Signature of the documents showing the transfer of the plant from the project manager to the Government (client).