Bui Dam

Bui Dam
Dam under construction in 2011
Location of Bui Dam in Ghana
Country	Ghana
Location	On the border of the Northern Region and the Brong-Ahafo Region
Coordinates	8°16′42″N 2°14′9″W / 8.27833°N 2.23583°W / 8.27833; -2.23583Coordinates: 8°16′42″N 2°14′9″W / 8.27833°N 2.23583°W / 8.27833; -2.23583
Status	Operational
Construction began	Preparatory: January 2008 Main dam: December 2009
Opening date	2013
Construction cost	US$622 million
Owner(s)	Bui Power Authority
Dam and spillways
Type of dam	Gravity, roller-compacted concrete
Impounds	Black Volta River
Height (foundation)	108 m (354 ft)
Height (thalweg)	90 m (300 ft)
Length	492.5 m (1,616 ft)
Elevation at crest	185 m (607 ft)
Width (crest)	7 m (23 ft)
Dam volume	1,000,000 m3 (35,000,000 cu ft)
Spillway type	Emergency, five gate-controlled
Spillway capacity	10,450 m3/s (369,000 cu ft/s)
Reservoir
Creates	Bui Reservoir
Total capacity	12,570,000,000 m3 (10,190,000 acre·ft)
Active capacity	7,720,000,000 m3 (6,260,000 acre·ft)
Surface area	Minimum level: 288 km2 (111 sq mi) Maximum level: 444 km2 (171 sq mi)
Maximum length	40 km (25 mi) avg.
Maximum water depth	88 m (289 ft)
Normal elevation	Minimum level: 167 m (548 ft) Maximum level: 183 m (600 ft)
Power station
Commission date	2013
Turbines	3 x 133 MW (178,000 hp) Francis turbines
Installed capacity	400 MW (540,000 hp)
Website www.buipowerauthority.com

The Bui Dam is a 400-megawatt (540,000 hp) hydroelectric project in Ghana. It is built on the Black Volta river at the Bui Gorge, at the southern end of Bui National Park. The project is a collaboration between the government of Ghana and Sino Hydro, a Chinese construction company. Construction on the main dam began in December 2009. Its first generator was commissioned on 3 May 2013, and the dam was inaugurated in December of the same year.

Bui will be the second largest hydroelectric generating plant in the country after the Akosombo Dam. The reservoir flooded about 20% of the Bui National Park and impacts the habitats for the rare black hippopotamus as well as a large number of wildlife species. It required the resettlement of 1,216 people, and affected many more.

The Bui hydro-electric dam had first been envisaged in 1925 by the British-Australian geologist and naturalist Albert Ernest Kitson when he visited the Bui Gorge. The dam had been on the drawing board since the 1960s, when Ghana’s largest dam, the Akosombo Dam, was built further downstream on the Volta River. By 1978 planning for the Bui Dam was advanced with support from Australia and the World Bank. However, four military coups stalled the plans. At the time Ghana began to be plagued by energy rationing, which has persisted since then. In 1992, the project was revived and a first feasibility study was conducted by the French firm Coyne et Bellier.

In 1997 a team of students from Aberdeen University carried out ecological investigations in the area to be flooded by the reservoir. The Ghanaian environmental journalist Mike Anane, who was included in UNEP’s Global 500 Roll of Honour for 1998, called the dam an "environmental disaster" and a "text book example of wasted taxpayer money". In his article he quoted the investigation team, but apparently somewhat exaggerated the environmental impact of the dam. The leader of the investigation team, the zoologist Daniel Bennett, clarified that "the opinions (Anane) attributes to our team are unfair and misleading". He continued to say that "Contrary to Mr Anane's claims, we are unaware of any globally endangered species in Bui National Park, nor did we claim that the dam would destroy the spawning runs of fish." Although Daniel Bennett always maintained a neutral stance towards the construction of the dam, in April 2001 the government of Ghana banned him from doing further research on the ecology of the Bui National Park. The government stated that the issue was "very sensitive" and Bennett's "presence in the National Park was no longer in the national interest". One of the journalist who criticized the government for banning Bennett was Mike Anane.