Masinga Hydroelectric Power Station

Masinga Hydroelectric Power Station, also Masinga Dam, is an

Masinga Dam is a 60 m tall and 2,200 m long embankment dam[3] with a volume of 4,950,000 m³. The dam contains a spillway and a bottom outlet.^[2]

Reservoir

At full reservoir level (maximum flood level of 1,056.5 m)

Because of its large volume, the reservoir is crucial in regulating the flow of water for the other 4 hydroelectric power plants downstream.^[7]

Power plant

The

Capital cost of the dam was US$172 million.^[citation needed]

Feasibility studies were made in the 1970s and they confirmed the viability of a cascade of hydroelectric power plants along the Tana River: Masinga, Kamburu, Gitaru, Kindaruma, Kiambere, Karura, Mutonga, Low Grand Falls, Usheni, Adamsons Falls, and Kora. Only the first five of them have been built so far.^[7]

Plans to raise the dam by 1.5 m in order to increase the volume of the reservoir up to 2 billion m³ were finally cancelled. The cost would have been US$15 million.^[4]

In February 2018, KenGen resurrected plans to raise the Masinga Dam wall by 2 metres (6.6 ft), and install pumping equipment to recycle the downstream water discharge back to the dam for steady electricity output though the dry seasons. The

Heavy rains beginning in March 2018 led to major flooding throughout the Tana River area. On 17 May 2018, it was announced that the Masinga dam had reached capacity and had begun to overflow one week after the deadly failure of a smaller embankment dam in Solai. While safeguards in place prevented the dam from failing, other dams downstream had already reached capacity and authorities advised the evacuation of the towns of Garissa, Garsen, Hola, and Bura.^[9]

See also

• Kamburu Hydroelectric Power Station
  – downstream
• List of power stations in Kenya

References