Dam upgrade to begin soon

The National Business

By PETER ESILA
WORK on the K59 million Yonki toe of dam refurbishment will be commissioned next month, according to PNG Power Ltd.
Eric Alom, a director of PPL’s project delivery office gave the PNG Business Council forum yesterday an update on the K1.13 billion direct power sector investment across the three primary grids of Ramu, Gazelle and Port Moresby.
The Yonki toe of dam is an 18-megawatt hydro-power refurbishment funded by the Asian Development Bank. “(The) infrastructure (was) poorly designed and poorly delivered a few years ago and has never served its purpose,” he said.
“So we have done some refurbishment and will be commissioning this project in November.
“It should deliver a good solid 18mw into the Ramu grid.”
The other nine projects being built are the:

  • EXIM Bank-funded K523 million funded Mt Hagen, Mendi and Tari transmission line and substations to be completed next year;
  • WARANGOI in Gazelle – a run off the river system funded by the ADB for K96 million – comes with a powerhouse, switchyard, upgraded transmission line capable of supplying 10MWs to the Gazelle grid which is relying on diesel;
  • K96 million ADB-funded Kilakila substation and transmission line which provides redundancies for the Port Moresby grid at two levels;
  • K26 million ADB-funded Sirinumu toe of dam refurbishment is to get up to 2MWs of extra supply to the K70 million Rouna 1 hydro power plant rehabilitation;
  • Japan International Cooperation Agency-funded K259 million Ramu transmission line and substation reinforcement project which is critical in providing redundancy to customers in Lae, Markham valley and Ramu. It is part of the PNG electrification partnership;
  • New Zealand and Australian governments joint K250 million funded rural on-grid electrification project involves extension to medium voltage distribution line from Gabagaba to Hula and villages in Central. It includes household connections, customer connections, this is one of the first success stories under the Papua New Guinea electrification partnership programme;
  • NZ-Australia joint K41 million funded Enga electrification project where close to 10,000 households have been connected to electricity; and,
  • K6 million Australia-funded Ramu hydro power plant upgrades on aging construction, power systems and powerhouse.