The HydroTimor weBlog

The power house in Gariuai has been cabled! All instruments as well as the 20 kV transmission lines have been connected, and the commissioning of the station has been performed by technicians Dietmar Fischer and Bernhard Wernet from the equipment supplier, Wasserkraft Volk in Germany.

The completion of the cabling means that the testing of the penstock (pipes from intake to station), power station and power lines connecting the station to the grid may start. This testing, which involves operation of the station, will go on until November, when the station is expected to be handed over to the EDTL and in normal operations.

National Director for Water and Sanitation Gregorio de Araujo (right) visited the station while trainees from EDTL together with HydroTimor staff (here Joaquim Ximenes) connected instruments.
Photo: Basil Rolandsen (www.bouvet.info)

The 1770 m signal cable going from the Builai intake to the power house is now installed. The cable needed to be stretched through pipes buried in the ground, as the cable passes through cultivated land, and also in order to protect the environment. This challenge involved several teams coordinating their pulling, and was completed over two (long) days.

Photo: Basil Rolandsen (www.bouvet.info)

The 4 km 20 kV transmission line from the Gariuai power station to the main grid has been upgraded to comply with new requests. It should now be ready for hand-over to EDTL, the national electricity company.

Photo: Basil Rolandsen (www.bouvet.info)

Our brochure for the Gariuai Mini Hydroelectric Power Project has been updated and is being distributed. You may find an electronic version (.pdf format) ready for download on our website.

The brochure (like previous brochures, video, this blog and our website) was produced by Basil Rolandsen from our partner the Bouvet Foundation.

HydroTimor is the coordinating unit for hydroelectric development in Timor-Leste (East Timor). It is situated in the Ministry for Infrastructure, and is supported by the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE) through an institutional cooperation.

The upper part of the penstock towards the Builai spring and dam will pass a steep area, exposed for erosion and land slide.

Photo: Basil Rolandsen (www.bouvet.info)

To avoid disturbance of the soil, a tunnel is under construction through the exposed area, around 20 meter long and at certain areas around 6 meter below the surface! For security reasons for the workers, and as foundation for the penstock, a steel culvert is all the time pressed into the tunnel as the work is progressing. This is pioneer work in Timor-Leste.

Some progress has been made for the Iralalaru project: The environmental report has been accepted by the government, and we may proceed with the planning and preparations.

It has been a long time since the project documents were presented back in 2006, so the next step now is to update some technical and financial data – including the latest hydrology data and adjusting the technical specifications, as well as updating the financial data to reflect today’s construction cost and oil prices.

You may have heard that there are some misunderstandings with regards to the construction of the project, causing one representative for the government to claim that it is taking too long to construct it, as it has been under construction since 2003. This surprises us, as the construction not yet has started, and that a lack of follow-up from the government is one reason for this. We also hear that there is a lack of political will to start construction of Iralalaru, and that the government prefers to produce power based on burning heavy fuel oil. We hope and believe these rumours are wrong, as it is difficult to imagine that the leaders of this country should prefer to develop polluting and expensive energy in favour of clean and cheap hydropower…

A new milestone has been reached. The penstock up to Wainalale spring and dam has crossed the main river by a newly constructed bridge.

Photo: Basil Rolandsen (www.bouvet.info)

The bridge is constructed to manage any possible floods in the river without being damaged. This work has taken several weeks, and represents the last big hindrance to reach the spring and dam. Congratulation to the Construction Managers Vasco Pinto and Arlindo Sarmento!

A new man has joined the team working with the institutional cooperation program between Timor-Leste and Norway! His name is Egil Skofteland, and he comes from the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate.

His main tasks will be to write the Project Document for the new period, and the development of hydrology in Timor-Leste. Hydrology will include both completing the hydrological network, establish the database and information system and training and education of people to work within this field in the future in Timor-Leste.

UPDATE: Egil has gone back to Norway, and will finish the project document there. The hydrology development has not yet started, but we hope this may happen in a not too distant future.

Photo: Basil Rolandsen (www.bouvet.info)

The Power Sector Annual Meeting between Timor-Leste and Norway was held in Dili 7th February 2008.

Photo: Basil Rolandsen (www.bouvet.info)

After opening of the meeting by the Minister of Infrastructure, Mr Pedro da Silva Lay, the meeting was headed by the Secretary of State for Electricity, Water and Urbanization, Mr Januario da Costa Pereira. The Chargée d’Affairs from the Norwegian Embassy Section in Dili, Ms Eva Irene Tuft, represented Norway together with the counsellor Mette Kottmann from the Norwegian Embassy in Jakarta.

The intention for such meetings is to discuss the progress of the cooperation between the two countries, the use of funds compared to what have been achieved and possible changes in the program for the cooperation.

The first phase of the cooperation will be completed this year.
The Annual Meeting recommended a prolongation of the cooperation for a new period of 5 years. There will be a special emphasis on hydropower and hydrology, included fulfilling of the hydrological network in Timor-Leste, and to establish a database and information system for the hydrological data.

It was further recommended that Norway should finance and carry out a Hydropower Master Plan for Timor-Leste, and a Power System Master Plan.
Norway would aim to finance the construction of the Atsabe Small Hydropower Project in Magapu river.

Support was also requested as to the legal framework, accounting principles, technical and financial reporting, and procurement.

Two large containers full of equipment for the Gariuai power house just arrived in Dili.

Photo: Basil Rolandsen (www.bouvet.info)

Seven large crates containing turbine, generator, transformer, a crane, valves and pipes, as well as other equipment, have now arrived our warehouse in Dili. The pic shows Alf Adeler supervising the unloading of the containers, which required heavy duty equipment due to the bulk and weight of the crates. They will be stored until they can be transported to the site in Gariuai and installed, a process to be aided by specialists from Germany.
If all goes according to plans now, the power plant should be delivering electricity by end of May!

The wet season makes the work more challenging, but we see progress anyway in Gariuai. The latest development is the roofing and painting of the power house, which will contain the turbine and other equipment.

Photo: Basil Rolandsen (www.bouvet.info)

Photo: Basil Rolandsen (www.bouvet.info)

Another development, found on the opposite side of the building, is the construction of the outlet leading the water from the turbine into the river.

We got as greeting from one of our readers, Gaspar, an East Timorese studying abroad. He sends his congratulations to the HydroTimor team on the web site, and says it is a good way to be updated for students. He also asks a question on a subject many may be interested in: “Can u enable your comments section so that we can give our opinion??”.

First: Thank you so much Gaspar for your greetings and nice words – much appreciated by us all! As for comments, we would love to open up for comments, really, but the fact of the matter is that we would be overflowed by spam by allowing comments. We would however love to hear from our readers, so just use the email address on the web site. Thanks and best regards!

UPDATE: We are now open for comments! A spam filter has been tested for a while, and we are now announcing that comments are now both possible and more than welcome…