The company Energoinvest from Sarajevo is expecting the ceremonial commissioning of the 115-kilometer long 400kV transmission line and 400/220/33kV substation, which will connect the power systems of Tanzania and Kenya in Africa for the first time. They worked on this project, worth 100 million US dollars, for four years.
“When we talk about the voltage level of 400 kV transmission lines and especially in the activity of construction of substations, I must mention that this is something that even the pre-war Energoinvest could not do. We have succeeded today and we are extremely happy and proud”, emphasizes the general director of Energoinvest Bisera Hadžialjević.
Tanzania Electric Supply Company Limited (TANESCO), i.e. the Electricity Company of Tanzania, had special requirements regarding the preservation of the environment in the construction area, because the transmission line is located only 70 kilometers from the entrance to the Kilimanjaro National Park, a tourist attraction that brings significant income to this country precisely because of the fact that is a nature reserve. The company is expecting an invitation to the commissioning ceremony of these power plants, which will be attended by the presidents of Tanzania, Kenya and Ethiopia.
“The poles themselves exceed a height of 80 meters, and their individual weight is from 30 to 70 tons. And this shows the demanding nature of design, production and construction. And apart from our part of the transmission line, we sold such poles, which are the product of Energoinvest, to a French company that she also installed them on her section,” explains Aida Halilović, head of the Energoinžinjering Design Service at Energoinvest, emphasizing the importance of the trust gained by the Electric Power Company of Tanzania in this work.
At the end of December last year, Energoinvest also completed and commissioned the 400/220kV and 220/60kV substations in Algeria on a turnkey basis. And this project is worth 57.5 million euros.
“We had a hidden problem here, which extended the deadline for the works. The investor, GRTE-Sonelgaz, which is the national electricity and gas company in Algeria, and their electricity distributor chose for the locations of these stations the terrain that is part of of a large regional landslide that had not been rehabilitated. In the end, we managed to negotiate for them to rehabilitate that landslide, and for us to continue our work. And finally we realized the contract we signed in 2013. Those substations were put into operation. The 400/220kV substation supplies with electricity to a large ironworks nearby, which did not run out of electricity even during a power outage in almost the entire country,” says Adnan Brkić, director of Energoinžinjering at Energoinvest, about this project.
This year, the current project of construction of 400 kV and 110 kV transmission lines around Tirana, the capital of Albania, is important for Energoinvest. The value of these works, which are financed by KfW for the needs of the national electricity transmission of Albania OST, is 19 million euros.
