Sambangalou Hydropower Plant is a hydropower project serving Guinea and Senegal. It seeks to provide electricity and related water-management benefits through generation, dam, reservoir and grid-connection infrastructure. The 128 MW Sambangalou hydropower project remained an active construction programme, with work expected to restart/continue in 2025 after interruptions.
<p>The proposed Sambangalou dam project entails the construction of a gravity dam, with a 128 MW capacity, and a 3.8 km3 reservoir. The dam is located in Senegal, 930 km upstream from the mouth of the Gambia river and about 25 km south of Kédougou. The reservoir overlaps Senegal and Guinea. The project now has two components, i.e. Sambangalou Dam and an interconnection transmission line which will link the Sambangalou and Kaleta dams to the electric grid of the four member countries.</p>
<p>The project was formerly part of larger OMVG Energy project involving fuoir countries (with Kaleta dam in Guinea and interconnecting power grid), however it split in 2011 after Guinea decided to develop Kaleta dam as a standalone.</p>
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<p>The objective of the OMVG Energy Project is to increase the availability of clean power, given the power deficit in the region and the high dependence on imported oil and use of environmentally damaging hydrocarbon power generation. Furthermore, it aims to improve energy security.</p>