Nachtigal Hydropower Project, 420MW
Nachtigal, a strategic hydroelectric project for Cameroon, is developed by Nachtigal Hydro Power Company (NHPC), a public-private partnership between the Republic of Cameroon, Electricité de France (EDF), International Finance Corporation (IFC), STOA and AFRICA50.
The plant has an installed capacity of 420MW, is located on Sanaga River near to Nachtigal Falls, about 65km from Yaoundé, Cameroon’s capital. The hydropower plant, once in operation, will produce an average of 2.9TWh; this energy corresponds to about a third of the consumption of Cameroon South Interconnected Network, allowing the country to obtain enough energy for population and industrial activities.
ATB Riva Calzoni has been chosen as subcontractor, by the Joint Venture between BESIX (Belgium), NGE (France) and SGTM (Morocco), for the turn-key supply of the complete hydromechanical equipment package and of the electromechanical equipment for the small hydro power plant.
The hydromechanical package includes the 5.6 diameter steel penstocks, the spillway radial gates and stoplogs (17 m x 10.7 m dimension), the gates and stoplogs for the power intake and the draft tube stoplogs.
The electromechanical package, instead, includes the supply of the Kaplan unit to turbine the environmental flow released at the dam toe (Nominal Capacity 4.5MW).
The manufacturing of the seven steel penstocks, 5.6 diameter, is being completely performed in the temporary workshop installed on the construction site. The production process includes plates rolling, automatic welding, Non-destructive tests (NDT) for the fabrication of 9 meter long pipes, subsequently painted and installed on site.
Activities started in 2019 and the completion of ATB’s activities is expected for July 2023, while the hydropower plant will start operating from 2024.
