ALM UNDP

Summary:

Monasavu additional energy options have been proposed to optimise on the existing Monasavu/Wailoa scheme. This includes improving energy production by increasing storage at Wainisavulevu weir, mini hydro station at the Monasavu outfall, maximising flow in the PP2 and PP3 intake structures. The objective is to provide additional Hydro (capacity 60MW) infrastructure, as a cascade operation down from the current Monasavu/ Hydro.

The HYDRO scheme is designed to reduce the country's reliance on imported diesel fuel used for generating electricity, and to spearhead further development plans.The Fiji Electricity Authority approved the Monasavu scheme in 1977 and construction began in May 1978.

It was financed by overseas and local funds and government grants, a multi million dollar project which remains the most ambitious development scheme undertaken in Fiji. Armed with a fleet of earth moving machines, tunnelling devices and international expertise, a workforce of about 1500 men set about carving out the scheme from virgin bush. For many of those men, it would mean working in condition far cooler-and wetter- than anything they had encountered before. 

The theory behind hydro-electricity is quite simple: water under high pressure turns the turbines, rather than diesel-fuelled generators. But if the theory is simple, the mechanics of building a dam and a series of tunnels is not. The turbines at Wailoa Power House, 625meters lower than the lake, are capable of producing about 80mw of energy.

Facilities of transmission of power from Wailoa to Vuda and Suva also had to be set up-a Trans Viti Levu link across the very centre of the island.

Image(s):