LOST IN THE JUNGLE – A REVIEW OF THE STILL-RADICAL GEOTHERMAL DEVELOPMENT AT KIABUKWA, DR CONGO

Abstract

In 1951, tin miners in what was then Belgian Congo needed electricity for their plant, but faced cost and logistic challenges around bringing fuel to site. There was a 91oC large flow hot spring near the site so they sought engineering help to develop this. This request would still be thought of as a development challenge today, especially in a tropical environment, even with the present availability of binary cycle technology. The resulting 250kW Kiabukwa geothermal station, which ran for several years before Wairakei, was developed in this purely commercial context.
This paper reviews the still-radical solutions employed by the English designer/manufacturer in this largely forgotten pioneering project, particularly its use of sub-atmospheric flash technology.