Mozambique: 2024 tantalite production should be highest yet – government
Notícias
The Maputo combined cycle power station switched on the first of its gas turbines on Monday morning.
By August, this new power station should be working at full capacity, generating 106 megawatts. The station is using natural gas from Temane, in the southern province of Inhambane.
“There are several phases”, said Narendra Gulab, director of generation of the public electricity company, EDM. “Within a week the power station will begin to inject into the grid between two and three megawatts, just from the first turbine. The second turbine will be switched on in about a month, and as from May or June, we shall generate 106 megawatts”.
The project has been financed by Japan, with 170 million US dollars, while EDM has provided 13 million dollars from its own funds.
Gulab told reporters that the new gas-fired power station adds 25 per cent to the electricity supply for southern Mozambique. It will increase the quality and improve the reliability of the electricity supplied to consumers.
“Over the past two or three years, we have lived through emergencies when it was necessary to have power restrictions”, he added. “This power station will reduce the risks of interruptions in the supply of electricity to Maputo and Matola cities”.
The new station is located on the grounds of a coal-fired power station that was dismantled several years ago. But the transmission lines linking it to the main sub-stations in the Greater Maputo area still exist, and can be used to transmit power from the new gas turbines.
As for human resources, Gulab said that 40 Mozambican technical staff have been recruited, half of them women. A group of 15 Mozambican are undergoing training in Japan. Eventually 67 Mozambicans will operate the station.
This is the only combined cycle power station in southern Africa. A combined cycle is much more efficient than traditional forms of combustion. The gas turbine generates electricity while the waste heat from the gas turbine is used to make steam to generate additional electricity via a steam turbine. This both increases energy efficiency and reduces emissions of greenhouse gases.
Leave a Reply
Be the First to Comment!
You must be logged in to post a comment.
You must be logged in to post a comment.