engineering

Western Power Corridor

Western Power Corridor is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Western Power Corridor rather than just read about it. In short: The Western Power Corridor (Westcor) was a project to construct and supply energy from two hydroelectric power plants to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola, Namibia, Botswana and South Africa. Originally, the hydro power was to be supplied form the Democratic Republic of the Congo's INGA III project.

Key takeaways

Western Power Corridor belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Western Power Corridor to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Western Power Corridor from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Western Power Corridor (Westcor) was a project to construct and supply energy from two hydroelectric power plants to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola, Namibia, Botswana and South Africa. Originally, the hydro power was to be supplied form the Democratic Republic of the Congo's INGA III project. Later Inga III was supposed to be replaced by Angola's Cuanza River and Cunene River projects or by the new project in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

History An inter-governmental memorandum on the Westcor was signed on 22 October 2004 in Johannesburg, South Africa, followed by the shareholders' agreement signed by the national electricity companies. The pre-feasibility study was completed in 2005. In 2009, Democratic Republic of the Congo decided to develop the INGA III project by using private investments and the project was redesigned to involve Cuanza River and Cunene River projects in Angola. In 2010 the Democratic Republic of Congo indicated it will propose a new project involving also Mozambique, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Ultimately the project was aborted by shareholders when unforeseen changes were proposed to the founding agreements.

Technical description The total length of Westcor will be over 3,000 kilometres (1,900 mi) and the capacity will be 3,500 megawatts (4,700,000 hp). INGA III will be connected with the Capanda Power Station in Angola via two 400-kilovolt (kV) high voltage alternating current (HVAC) lines. INGA III will be also connected with Kinshasa via another 400 kV HVAC line. From Angola, two multi-terminal high-voltage direct current systems will run to Namibia, Botswana and South Africa. The system will consist of five converter stations: Kuanza in Angola, Auas in Namibia, Goborone in Botswana, and Omega and Pegasus in South Africa. The expected cost of the project is about € 5 billion.

Project company The Westcor company was registered and incorporated in Botswana in 2003. The shareholders are Empresa Nacional de Electricidade de Angola, Botswana Power Corporation (BPC), the Société nationale d'électricité (SNEL) of the DRC, Eskom of South Africa and NamPower of Namibia. CEO of the company was Pat Naidoo.

References

External links

Project presentation at Namibia Power official website (PPT)

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Western Power Corridor

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Western Power Corridor claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Western Power Corridor before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Western Power Corridor ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Western Power Corridor

In research: Western Power Corridor appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Western Power Corridor in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Western Power Corridor is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Electric power infrastructure in Angola, Electric power infrastructure in Botswana, Electric power infrastructure in South Africa, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Western Power Corridor outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Western Power Corridor in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Western Power Corridor means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Western Power Corridor out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Western Power Corridor in simple terms?

Why does Western Power Corridor matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Western Power Corridor?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Western Power Corridor.