Eskom Uganda, the subsidiary of South African energy company Eskom, has announced the completion of upgrades for electronic governors for Units 14 and 15 at Kiira Power Plant by Andritz Hydro GmbH, an Austrian company. The utility invested 5 billion Ugandan shillings (US$1.4 million) in the rehabilitation project.
A governing system, the main controller of the hydraulic turbine, varies the water flow through the turbine to control its speed and power output. It also adjusts the unit speed and system frequency. The installed electronic governor system replaces one earlier installed in 2007 for both units which had reached the end of their operational life.
Thozama Gangi, Eskom Uganda Managing Director, commented during the project handover saying; “This is yet another investment into Kiira Power Plant in line with Eskom’s mandate of maintaining and operating Kiira and Nalubaale Power Stations. The old governors have been replaced with digital governors using the Siemens TC1703 SAT 530. The new system has not only provided state of the art technology but also designed to improve unit efficiency and reliability.”
Located just outside the town of Jinja in the Eastern Region of Uganda, the Kiira Hydro Power Plant has an energy output capacity of 200MW. The plant has five units that produce 40MW each.
Andreas Pühringer, the Design Engineer from Andritz Hydro GmbH, the project contractor expressed appreciation for the continued partnership with Eskom Uganda.
“Our two companies are connected by a long history. The first time I came to Uganda was in 2007 for commissioning of 4 governors in Nalubaale. Andritz Hydro is proud to support Eskom Uganda once again in this Kiira governor system upgrade project with state-of-the-art engineering solutions. We now have 2 more excellent controllers which will help to serve the country’s increasing electricity demands and to increase reliability of electricity supply.”
The new governor system will have a life cycle of 15 years. It has guaranteed technical/engineering and spares support to address the challenges previously faced on the units.
The construction of the Kiira Power Plant was completed in 2003. During the same year, South Africa’s state owned utility Eskom set up a subsidiary in Uganda and was awarded the concession to operate, manage and maintain the Kiira hydroelectric power station.
