Nalubaale Hydroelectric Power Station
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Nalubaale Hydroelectric Power Station
View from top of dam
Location of Nalubaale Hydroelectric Power Station in
Uganda
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Country Uganda
Location Jinja
00°26′37″N
Coordinates 33°11′06″ECoordinates:
00°26′37″N 33°11′06″E
Purpose Power
Status Operational
Opening date 1954
Dam and spillways
Impounds White Nile
Nalubaale Power Station
Operator(s) ESKOM Uganda
Installed capacity 180 MW (240,000 hp)[1]
Satellite image showing the location of the dam in relation to Lake Victoria
Construction of the Owen Falls Dam in early 1950s
Nalubaale Power Station, formerly known as Owen Falls Dam, is a hydroelectric power
station across the White Nile near to its source at Lake Victoria in Uganda. Nalubaale is the
Luganda name for Lake Victoria.
Contents
1 Location
2 History
3 Operations
4 Owen Falls Extension
5 Lake Victoria water levels
6 See also
7 References
8 External links
Location
The dam sits across the Nile River between the town of Jinja, in Jinja District and the town of
Njeru in Buikwe District, approximately 85 kilometres (53 mi), by road, east of Kampala,
Uganda's capital and largest city.[2]
History
Before the construction of the dam, water levels on Lake Victoria were moderated by a
natural rock dam on the north side of the lake. Rising lake waters would spill over the natural
dam into the White Nile, which flows through Uganda, South Sudan, Sudan, and Egypt
before emptying into the Mediterranean Sea. When water levels dropped too low, flow into
the river ceased.
In 1947, Charles Redvers Westlake, an English engineer, reported to the Colonial
Government of Uganda recommending the construction of a hydroelectric dam at Owen Falls
near the city of Jinja. This led to the establishment of the Uganda Electricity Board (UEB),
with Westlake as its first chairman. A treaty between Uganda and Egypt ensured that the
natural flow of the Nile would not be altered by the dam. The consultant engineer on the
project was Sir Alexander Gibb & Partners. Eighty thousand tons of plant and construction
materials (including 36,000 tons of cement) were shipped out from Europe in the difficult
post-war period. They were then hauled 750 miles by rail from Mombasa to Jinja. The dam
was completed in three years, ahead of schedule, in 1954, submerging Ripon Falls.[3].
It supplies electricity to Uganda and parts of neighbouring Kenya and Tanzania. Maintenance
and availability of the station declined seriously during the government of Idi Amin.
The rating of the Nalubaale power station is 180 megawatts (MW). Originally it was
designed for ten turbines rated at 15 MW each (for a total of 150 MW. The station was
refurbished in the 1990s to repair the accumulated wear from a decade of civil disorder.
During the repairs, the output power of the generators was increased, bringing the Nalubaale
Power Complex's generating capacity to 180 MW.[4]
