The lifeblood of the towns and cities in the Highlands of PNG was dependent on the Ramu Hydro station, located only a few miles from Kainantu. Between them, the Sepik river (to the west) and the Ramu river, starting in the mountains not far from Lae and Madang, drain almost all the water on the north side of the main island part of PNG. As a result, it was a natural to tap the Ramu for a hydro dam, built 1972-76 by Hyundai from South Korea. Elcom had its own small village, Yonki, located here to house the staff running this place. It was here, with an expatriate family from New Zealand or in an Elcom guest house that I normally stayed when in the area.
The three 15,000 kW units here (with their grey transformers sitting above the building) were enough to supply this whole area of PNG, by means of a 66,000 volt transmission system. One line went west to supply Kundiawa, Goroka and Mt. Hagen, another went east to supply Kainantu and Lae while the final line went north to Madang. For cases of trouble, smaller diesel generating stations were also operating at Lae, Madang and Mt. Hagen. Since I left the country, another dam has been built upstream and another two 15,000 kW generators added to the Ramu complex.
I visited Ramu several times to sort out various problems, including solving one that had been periodically blacking out this whole power system ever since the dam went into service. There were also trips to the outlying towns to deal with transmission-related problems, so there was never any shortage of work!
Leave a Comment
Kainantu
email me
add as friend
Comments for Bwana_Brown about Kainantu