Hydraulic development of the turbines for Gibe III, Ethiopia

The Gibe III hydro station, on the Omo river, near the city of Sodo in Ethiopia, is the third plant in the Omo river cascade. It will have a total capacity of 1870 MW, generated by ten 187 MW Francis units. This paper discusses key issues for the design of the Gibe III turbines, with particular reference to the optimization of their hydraulic performance by model testing. Analysis of the relevant parameters, characteristics of the powerplant, geometry of the proposed turbine design and performance predictions by a combination of methods are all discussed in this paper.