{"id":8863,"date":"2020-03-30T13:13:28","date_gmt":"2020-03-30T10:13:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/africasustainabilitymatters.com\/?p=8863"},"modified":"2026-01-11T05:30:57","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T05:30:57","slug":"kenya-why-masinga-hydropower-dam-should-be-desilted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/2020\/03\/30\/kenya-why-masinga-hydropower-dam-should-be-desilted\/","title":{"rendered":"Kenya: Why Masinga Hydropower Dam Should Be Desilted"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Power sector experts from the Netherlands have advised power producer KenGen not to raise Masinga dam wall as a way of increasing water catchment but dredge out layers of sand and soil deposits trapped on the floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The\nDutch are largely known for their expertise in dam water management, along with\nland reclamation from the sea. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cDesiltation\nis a cost-effective and most efficient way of managing hydroelectric dams. In\nNetherlands, which has dozens of hydropower stations, dams are never raised,\nonly desilted,\u201d the Dutch experts told <em>Africa\nSustainability Matters<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>State-owned <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kengen.co.ke\/\">KenGen<\/a> completed feasibility studies to raise the Masinga dam\u2019s wall by 1.5 metres to enable the dam store more water during heavy rains and ensure a steady output of hydropower even during prolonged drought. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hydropower,\na renewable energy, remains Kenya\u2019s cheapest source of electricity at an\naverage of Sh5 per unit ($0.05).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cFeasibility\nstudies have been completed and we\u2019re on course with the plan,\u201d KenGen business\ndevelopment director Moses Wekesa was quoted as saying earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Masinga\nstation (40MW) is strategic since it\u2019s the first dam in the Seven Forks cascade\non Tana River comprising a chain of hydropower stations, including Kamburu,\nGitaru, Kindaruma and Kiambere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Besides\nthe cost factor, hydropower stations are important for Kenya since they act as\nspinning reserves for balancing out fluctuations in weather-dependent wind and\nsolar power, acting as national grid stabilisers. Kenya hosts the largest\nrenewable energy project in sub-Saharan Africa, the 310MW Lake Turkana wind\npower alongside 55MW Garissa solar project. The 100MW Kipeto wind farm is under\nconstruction, alongside other solar farms, all of which will require an\nincrease in the spinning reserve capacity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Spinning\npower stations can easily be switched on and off, ramped up and down in\nreal-time to match fluctuations in solar and wind power generation, avoiding\nlarge-scale system interruptions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The\nMasinga wall extension plan has been on the cards for over seven years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In\n2013, earlier estimates indicated that the wall extension by 1.5 metres would\ncost Sh1.5 billion ($15 million).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In\nthe plan, the power producer also seeks to install equipment (pumped storage)\nthat will pump downstream water back to the dam to ensure steady generation of\nthe cheap power throughout the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Not so long ago, some investors offered to desilt Masinga dam on behalf of KenGen, free of charge. In exchange, the private investor had anticipated to find gold dusts and particles swept downstream and deposited at the bottom of the dam. The deal had promised to be a win-win but, unfortunately, it fell through the cracks and never saw the light of day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Read also:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/boda-bodas-to-save-sh3bn-with-electric-rides\/\">Boda Bodas To Save Sh3bn With Electric Rides<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Power sector experts from the Netherlands have advised power producer KenGen not to raise Masinga dam wall as a way of increasing water catchment but dredge out layers of sand&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":8864,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[92],"tags":[478,504,896,988,1057],"class_list":["post-8863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-environmental-responsibility","tag-desiltation","tag-dutch","tag-kengen","tag-masinga-dam","tag-netherlands"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8863"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8863\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}