Kindaruma - Final taking over in Kenya ahead of schedule

Ahead of schedule, on 19 July 2013, a new third unit, two upgraded units and the rehabilitated common equipment at Kindaruma hydropower plant were finally taken over by Kenya Electricity Generating Company Ltd.

HPP Kindaruma is part of the Seven Fork Cascade, located 160 km northeast of Nairobi on the Tana River.

Detail view new turbine unit 3

It was commissioned in 1968 and was the first major power station in independent Kenya. Designed for three turbine generator units, only two vertical Kaplan units were installed. With the new third unit and the two upgraded ones the power output of the station was increased from 40 MW to 72 MW.

One of the key winning key factors was our challenging overall project schedule, which showed a significantly shorter execution time as well as a much lower demand for outage days compared with the schedules of our competitors.

A complex financing and sourcing concept was required. The generators were manufactured in the ANDRITZ HYDRO generator workshop in Sweden according to the design which was created in Weiz (Austria). Mechanical components such as the intake gate and propeller type runners were designed in Linz (Austria) and manufactured in the ANDRITZ HYDRO workshop in Spain. For the design and sourcing of the electrical power systems Austria was again responsible.

Hence a total of 11 ANDRITZ HYDRO locations in nine different countries contributed to the Kindaruma success story. Excellent team spirit and cooperation of the project team as well as a very proactive approach to managing the ample challenges and risks made it able to complete all four penalized sections of work on or ahead of schedule.

In the presence of the Austrian Ambassador in Kenya, the senior management of KenGen, ANDRITZ HYDRO and numerous TV teams and journalists, the rehabilitated power station was handed over from ANDRITZ HYDRO to KenGen at the Kindaruma site on 23 July 2013.

With this big achievement ANDRITZ HYDRO Service & Rehab has completed an important project reference for the East African region and for the whole of Africa.