The government of Ghana led by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo recently commissioned Tsatsadu micro-hydro generation station which is built at the Tsatsadu Falls in Alavanyo, Hohoe Municipality, Volta Region.
With a capacity of 45 kW, the project was designed, developed, and constructed by engineers of the Bui Power Authority (BPA) within a period of approximately 12 months. It was funded partly by BPA through internally-generated monies, and by the Danish Government as part of the China-Ghana South-South Cooperation on Renewable Energy Technology Transfer which aims to facilitate the exchange of expertise and technology on renewable energy between China and Ghana, with a focus on building the institutional framework and capacity required to facilitate the local absorption of the technologies.
Features of the micro-hydro generation station and how it works
The 45kW Tsatsadu micro-hydro generating station is a run-of-river power plant, that is to say, a facility that does not depend on a dam for its operation. It consists of a concrete diversion weir otherwise known as retaining wall, an intake structure, diversion channel, a forebay, a steel penstock or else a pipe for conveying water to a hydroelectric station, a powerhouse, and a transmission line to deliver the electricity generated from the plant to the local distribution grid.
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The intake structure which is installed in the spillway leads a part of the flow of the Tsatsadu River to a diversion channel through a 300 mm diameter steel penstock down a steep slope to a hydroelectric power station built at the foot of the hill. With the speed generated down the hill, the water turns a turbine that produces 45 kW of electricity.
BPA estimates that the plant’s capacity can be expanded with a new 40- or 60-kW turbine.
