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…