The HydroTimor weBlog

Things are happening in Gariuai! The penstock (pipeline) is extending. The Powerhouse is shaping up. The intake ponds construction has started.

There has been huge progress in constructing the powerhouse. This is critical work, demanding accuracy and high-quality craftmanship. The building will soon hold the turbine, connected to the end of the penstock and the generator. As even small errors here may be dangerous and destructive, the HydroTimor team is following the work closely to ensure compliance with the plans. They report that the work so far has progressed well, and are impressed with the local construction managers, saying this proves that local managers may do high-quality work. Good for our future as a nation!

Construction of the powerhouse is progressing well.
Photo: Basil Rolandsen (www.bouvet.info)

HydroTimor has measured the waterflow of the Magapu river for more than a year, assessing the possibilities for building a small hydropower plant about 6-7 km outside Atsabe town. The idea is to build a small intake weir uphill, and lead the water through a canal to a pipeline (penstock) connected to a downhill power house. The measurements are not yet finished, but indications so far is that the plant may produce somewhere between 10 and 15 GWh annually.

A hydropower engineer from Norway, Are Kiel is in Atsabe now, measuring the landscape and finding a possible path for the canal. His findings will later be posted at the website, together with more info on the project. We hope to see the project started next year. The electricity will initially benefit the local communities, and later (as more power lines are stretched) that the plant will contribute nationally, delivering to the national grid.