Nadarivatu Hydro Electric Scheme

The 42MW Nadarivatu Hydropower Station in the remote central area of Viti Levu in Fiji reduces the country’s dependence on costly, imported diesel and provides 20 percent of the island’s electricity needs.

MWH provided full design services covering all aspects of the project from geotechnical and materials investigations, hydrology and flood assessment, mechanical, electrical, transmission line and switchyard, communications, controls through to civil, structural, construction supervision and commissioning.

The Nadarivatu project consists of a 42 MW power station encompassing two vertical pelton turbines providing 103GWh of electricity annually. The project is comprised of:

A 30-meter-high concrete gravity dam, including three radial gates and two sluice gates
Two kilometers of tunnels, including intake structures and screens
A 1.5-kilometer-long, 2-meter-diameter buried steel penstock pipeline
A 132 kV, 5-kilometer-long transmission line connecting to the existing Fiji transmission system through a switching station

Project construction began in 2009 with MWH serving as Owner’s Engineer and SinoHydro Corporation in charge of project execution through an Engineer-Procure-Construct (EPC) contract.

Location: Vitu Levu, Fiji

Region: Asia Pacific

Service Offering: Analytics & Research, Engineering & Design, Construction & Construction Management

Market Sector: Energy & Power

Client Type: Public & Private Utilities

Status: Complete

Feasibility studies
Geotechnical and materials investigations
Hydrology and flood assessment
Mechanical and electrical engineering
Construction supervision and commissioning

The scheme will provide electricity to meet another 20 percent of the island’s electricity need, reducing dependence on costly imported diesel fuel and helping Fiji further drive towards energy independence.
The Nadarivatu project is responsible for bringing power to communities like the local village of Buya Buya for the first time.
The project’s remote location required design for remote operation, allowing for efficient management of the project which often could not be accessed due to tropical weather conditions, increasing the risk of plant outages.

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