MWH Provides Engineering Services For Hydropower Project In Uganda

Chicago, IL - MWH, a global provider of environmental engineering, strategic consulting and construction management services, recently announced it has been selected to provide engineering services for the 250 Megawatt (MW) Bujagali Hydroelectric Power Project on the Victoria Nile River in Uganda. The project, expected to cost approximately $682M to build, broke ground in August 2007 and is scheduled to be completed in 2011. Once online, the plant is expected to double the nation's energy capacity and provide much-needed power that local officials anticipate will help facilitate economic growth.

Under the terms of the contract, MWH will provide technical assistance to the owner, design review, construction drawing review, and assistance during start-up and commissioning during the 44-month engineering and construction phases. MWH previously developed a request for qualifications and tender documents for bidding and selecting a project delivery contractor on an engineer, procure, and construct (EPC) basis. MWH expects to receive approximately $3.8M over four years for its services on this project.

Uganda has one of the lowest rates of electrification in the world where demand has outstripped the capacity of existing hydroelectric power generation facilities on the Victoria Nile River.

The project is on the Victoria Nile River, about eight kilometers downstream of the existing Owen Falls Hydropower Project, which regulates the flows into the Victoria Nile from Lake Victoria. The facility will provide power from an indigenous and renewable resource with low carbon-dioxide emissions, re-using water already used for power generation at the upstream dams, thus contributing to sustainable development.

The project is being developed under a build-own-operate-transfer agreement with the government of Uganda and is one of the largest private power-sector investments ever made in Sub-Saharan Africa. MWH is working for the project sponsors, Industrial Promotion Services of Kenya and Sithe Global Power of the United States, who jointly own the development rights. Project financing includes loans from multi-national lenders, including the International Finance Corporation and the European Investment Bank.

The project will develop a gross head of approximately 22 meters and includes:

• A main spillway with two radial gates and one flap gate
• An emergency spillway
• A 30-meter-tall rockfill/earthfill embankment-type dam
• A concrete gravity dam
• A concrete powerhouse structure with an integral intake
• Five Kaplan-type turbines
• Five generators
• A 132kV substation

SOURCE: MWH