Gariep Dam

The Gariep Dam is the largest dam in South Africa on the Orange River. It is located near Norvalspont (Eastern Cape ), 150 km south of Bloemfontein. His background is determined by the geological deposits of the Beaufort Group in the Karoo main basin.

History

The Orange River Project was authorized by the South African government in 1962-63, approved in connection very quickly and financed mainly during the 1960s and 1970s by foreign exchange earnings from gold exports. The dam was originally called Hendrik Verwoerd Dam, after its political supporters. After the end of apartheid took place on 4 October 1996 officially renamed the Gariep Dam. Gariep is a word from the language of San It means "big water ".

Function

The dam was built to prevent flooding and recovery of electrical energy. The first two turbines to the grid were in 1971, followed by the last two 1976. One special feature of the machines is that they can be used as a synchronous condensers, so as to stabilize the operation of the associated high-voltage system. The produced at the Gariep Dam electricity is fed into the Eskom grid near De Aar ( Northern Cape ). There is a distribution station.