Electricity costs expected up as LHDA plans Muela shutdown
MOSA MAOENG
MASERU – The planned maintenance of the Lesotho Highlands Development Authority (LHDA) Phase 1 Water Transfer and Delivery Tunnels will cost around M300 million. LHDA Chief Executive Tente Tente says the water transfer and delivery tunnel will be in total shutdown for nine months as it undergoes maintenance estimated to cost M300 million.
Tente said this at a press briefing on Tuesday this week as his organization updated the nation on the developments at LHDA. He explained that during the maintenance period, there will be no transfer of water from Katse to ‘Muela (45 km transfer tunnel), which will result in no generation of electricity at the ‘Muela Hydropower Station (MHP).
Since about half of Lesotho’s domestic power consumption is generated at MHP, it means the deficit will have to be imported at a market rate ultimately expected to push the unit price of electricity up for Lesotho consumers. There will also be no delivery of water from Lesotho to South Africa through the Delivery Tunnel 37km, Delivery Tunnel South 15km and Delivery Tunnel North 22km thereby affecting royalties.
As a result, 780 million cubic meters of water transferred to South Africa yearly will be reduced to 700 million cubic meters. Water royalties amounted to M1.6 billion in 2022. According to Tente, the planned maintenance has become necessary as an expert warned during an inspection in 2019 that the safe operation of the system beyond the next five years could not be guaranteed without the crucial shutdown for maintenance.
The 2019 inspection also established that the painting on all sections of the tunnels that are steel lined was wearing off and that there was a risk that steel lining would corrode if left for too long.
“LHDA plans to use the opportunity created by the 2024 Tunnels Outage to undertake other routine maintenance on the ‘Muela Hydropower Station and other related components. This will include but is not limited to the replacement of the process’s controllers of the ‘Muela Hydropower Station Unit 1. The station houses three units that generate hydropower. The 10-year inspection and refurbishment of Units 1 and 3, have recently been completed.
“The 10 years inspection and refurbishment of Unit 2 and process’s controllers is planned for February to May 2024. LHDA will undertake extensive maintenance and repair works in the tunnels. This will require a complete shutdown of the station to empty the tunnels of any water and make way for maintenance teams to enter the tunnels and carry out the repair work. It is a sensitive and extensive job that is done with the highest degree of safety considerations and care, and thus require thorough planning, execution and post maintenance inspections before water is released back into the tunnels,” he said.
For his part, LHDA’s Divisional Manager for Development & Operations Reentseng Molapo said the maintenance will create several job opportunities for communities living next to the project. He said over almost 400 jobs will be created for both the skilled and unskilled. The working areas, he said, include Pelaneng, Tšehlanyane, ‘Muela, Hololo, Ngoajane and Makhunoane.
Molapo also revealed that Corrocoat, a South African Contractor, has been contracted to do the maintenance and was selected a year ahead. He explained that maintenance and repair is expected to last about four months in total, while preparations which include emptying of the tunnels will occupy the first month, and final inspections and refilling the tunnels with water will take up the final month, making the total outage period to be six months.
LHDA says it has prepared a nine months long communications effort to ensure that Basotho and all key stakeholders remain informed of the progress leading up to, during and after the outage to ensure that sufficient information is available, and the impact to the day-to-day lives of people is minimized.
Operations will commence in October 1, 2024 and end in March 31st 2025. One of the purpose of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP) is to enhance the use of Senqu River by storing, diverting and controlling the flow of Senqu River and its effluents to effect delivery of specified quantities of water to a designated point in the Republic of South Africa (RSA) and by utilizing such delivery system to generate hydro-electricity power in the Kingdom of Lesotho.
