Nachtigal

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Nachtigal Amont HPP (“Nachtigal”) is a 420 MW run-of river hydropower plant (HPP) located in the Sanaga River, 65 km north east from Yaoundé (Cameroon).  The project is being developed by Nachtigal Hydro Power Company (“NHPC”) whose shareholders are EDFI (40%), the Republic of Cameroon (30%) and IFC (30%).  Construction of the project is estimated to cost around 1.05 billion EUR.  In addition to IFC’s equity as project developer, the proposed investment is up to 130 million EUR A loan. IFC will also act as Global Coordinator for up to 650 million EUR of parallel loans in Euros or in local currency. The World Bank (WB) is engaged in the power sector in Cameroon providing advice on the Electricity Sector Development Plan covering the period 2015-2035 (“PDSE 2035”) and developing a Technical Assistance project for hydropower development on the Sanaga River that should also support Nachtigal and the overall sector framework. WB will provide a Partial Risk Guarantee (PRG) to this project.Construction is organized in four separate engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor tenders: (i) civil works (LOT GC), (ii) installation of electro-mechanical equipment (LOT EM1), (iii) construction of high and medium voltage transmission lines (LOT EM2), and (iv) construction of NHPC base camp (LOT CE).   Construction is expected to start in early 2018 and commissioning of the last turbine is expected in 2022. The project’s main components include: •A roller compacted concrete dam on the Sanaga River, comprised by an overflow section with a total length of 1455 m and maximum height of 13.6 m, and a non-overflow section with a length of 553 m and a maximum height of 16 m to create a 27.8 million m3 reservoir with a surface of 4.21 km2 at normal operating level.•A headrace lined canal about 3.3 km long and 14m deep on average to transfer water to the hydroelectric power plant with a maximum flow rate of 980 m3/s corresponding to the design flow of the hydroelectric power plant equipment.•A hydroelectric power plant with an installed capacity of 420 MW (seven 60 MW Francis turbines able to operate either as a run of river plant or an intermediate peaking plant).•A secondary 4.5 MW power plant to generate electricity from the environmental flow (riparian release) to be discharged downstream of the d•A double busbar 225 kV generation substation and a 50.3 km 225 kV double circuit transmission line equipped with two bundle conductors to transport the power produced from the power plant generation substation to the Nyom 2 connection substation.•Spoil disposal areas for the temporary storage of approximately 1.8 million m3 of excavated material. •A quarry for the extraction of approximately 170,000 m3 of laterite.•A concrete plant to produce approximately 130,000 m3 of concrete.•6.5 km of permanent roads to access the hydroelectric power plant and dam. •A temporary construction base camp with capacity for up to 1,500 workers.•A 1 ha temporary landfill for the sorting, pretreatment and disposal of non-hazardous solid waste generated by EPC contractors and NHPC offices and base camp.NHPC has a 35-year operation concession of the hydropower plant (and relative generation substation), while the transmission line will be built by NHPC and then transferred to the State of Cameroon to be operated by SONATREL. The HPP will be operated mainly as a baseload power plant. Nachtigal HPP will form part of a hydropower cascade on the Sanaga River.  Lom Pangar regulation reservoir, funded in part by the World Bank, is located upstream from Nachtigal. With a storage capacity of 6 billion m3 reservoir, this large dam was completed in 2016; its main purpose is to regulate water flows along the Sanaga river to increase hydroelectric production by two existing and seven planned HPP located downstream. The two existing HPPs on the Sanaga River are the 384 MW Song Loulou and 277 MW Edéa HPPs, and the six large HPPs proposed downstream of Nachtigal HPP as part of a cascade along the Sanaga River include Nachtigal Aval (200 MW), Kikot (540-1000 MW), Grand Ngodi (1140 MW), Song Mbengué (1140 MW), Song Ndong (250 MW) and Edea Amont (capacity not specified).