The government of the Republic of Cameroon through state-owned Electricity Development Corporation (EDC) is set to rehabilitate and extend the 72 MW Lagdo Hydroelectric Power Plant built on the Benue River in the northern region of the central African country.
So far the cooperation has invited and received bids for the implementation of the project. Among the companies that have submitted their proposals is Voith Hydro from Germany, an American multinational conglomerate known as General Electric Company and China’s Sinohydro and China International Water and Electric Corporation (CWE).
The selected company will renovate the turbines by replacing their wheels and some equipment, recondition the plants’ hydro-mechanical and handling facilities, review the mechanical and electrical installations, as well as do some civil engineering works within a span of 12 to 24 months.
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The project will be implemented under an Engineering, Procurement, Construction, and Financing (EPCF) contract, valued at over US$ 177M.
The Lagdo Hydroelectric Power Plant
The Lagdo Hydroelectric Power Plant was initially built between 1977 and 1982 by a combination of engineers and Chinese workers, along with Cameroonian laborers under the supervision of China International Water & Electric Corp.
With a design capacity of 72 MWe, the plant was mainly intended to supply electricity to the northern part of the country but due to silting up and the obsolescence of the installations, the capacity has fallen significantly to approximately 30 MW causing power cuts in the far north of Cameroon.
Upon completion of the renovation, the facility will have a new capacity of about 80 MW.
