Gouina Hydroelectric Plant

{{Infobox power station

| name = Gouina Hydroelectric Plant

| name_official = Centrale hydroélectrique de Gouina

| image = Chutes Gouina3.jpg

| image_size =

| image_caption = The power plant uses the natural drop of the Gouina Falls.

| image_alt =

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| coordinates = {{coord|14|00|41.40|N|11|5|59.8|W|type:landmark|display=inline,title}}

| country = Mali

| location = Diamou, Kayes Region

| status = UC

| construction_began = December 2013

| commissioned = 2022

| decommissioned =

| cost = 283 billion FCFA

| owner =

| operator =

| employees =

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| psps_upper_res_capacity =

| psps_lower_res =

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| psps_penstocks =

| psps_pumpgenerators =

| ps_units_uc = 3 x {{convert|46.6|MW}} Kaplan-type

| psps_generators =

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| ps_units_manu_model =

| psps_hydraulic_head =

| ps_electrical_capacity = {{convert|140|MW|abbr=on}}

| ps_electrical_cap_fac =

| ps_annual_generation = {{convert|565|GWh}} (estimate)

| website =

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}}

The Gouina Hydroelectric Plant (French: Centrale hydroélectrique de Gouina) is a run-of-the-river-type hydroelectric installation on Gouina Falls along the Senegal River in Mali. It is located about {{Convert|18|km|mi|abbr=on}} southeast of Diamou in the Kayes Region. It is the fourth project of the Senegal River Basin Development Authority and its ground-breaking ceremony on 17 December 2013 was attended by the heads of state of each member country. Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz laid the foundation stone. Preliminary construction had been suspended due to the 2012 Malian coup d'état and subsequent Northern Mali conflict.{{cite web|title=OMVS launches Gouina dam project in Kayes region|url=http://www.africanmanager.com/site_eng/detail_article.php?art_id=21170|publisher=African Manager|accessdate=3 January 2015|date=19 December 2013|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150103214645/http://www.africanmanager.com/site_eng/detail_article.php?art_id=21170|archivedate=3 January 2015}}

The plant was inaugurated by the Malian Prime Minister Abdoulaye Maïga in December 2022.{{cite news |title=Mali: inauguration du barrage de Gouina, sur le fleuve Sénégal |url=https://www.rfi.fr/fr/afrique/20221203-mali-inauguration-du-barrage-de-gouina-sur-le-fleuve-s%C3%A9n%C3%A9gal |access-date=19 June 2023 |work=RFI}} It cost US$329 million and the {{Convert|280|km|mi|abbr=on}} of transmission lines cost US$65 million.{{cite web |title=Update of the ECOWAS Revised Master Plan for the generation and transmission of electrical energy|url=http://www.ecowapp.org/?dl_id=451|publisher=West African Power Pool|accessdate=3 January 2015 |page=6/17 |format=PDF|date=October 2011}} The project received 85 percent of its funding from the Exim Bank of China along with US$1 million from the EU-Africa Infrastructure Trust Fund and US$1.4 million from the International Development Association and European Investment Bank.{{cite news|last1=Diarra|first1=Soumaila|title=West African Countries Cope as New Mali Power Plants Abridge Electricity Challenges|url=http://afkinsider.com/38241/west-african-countries-cope-electricity-challenges/|accessdate=3 January 2015|agency=AFK Insider|date=16 January 2014}}

It has an installed capacity of {{convert|140|MW}} and will use the outflows of the Manantali Dam upstream to regulation water flow into the plant.{{cite web |title=Gouina |url=http://www.eu-africa-infrastructure-tf.net/activities/grants/gouina-hydropower.htm |publisher=EU-Africa Infrastructure Trust Fund|accessdate=3 January 2015}} A {{convert|1230|m|ft|abbr=on}} long weir just above the water fall directs water into a channel which will feed the power house just downstream of the falls. The power house contains three 46.6 MW Kaplan turbine-generators. The difference in elevation the water fall and weir provides a hydraulic head (water drop) of {{Convert|22.5|m|ft|abbr=on}}.{{cite web |title=Macky Sall and three Heads of State inaugurated the central Félou and lay the cornerstone of the Gouina|url=http://senetoile.net/actualite-senegal/25-economie/981698-2013-12-17-18-22-21.html|publisher=Senegal News|accessdate=3 January 2015 |language=French|date=17 December 2013}}{{cite web |title=Scenarios et Simulations du Plan Optimal D'investissements |url=http://www.ecowrex.org/system/files/repository/2008_planfication_secteur_electricite_scenarios_et_plan_-_min_ener.pdf |publisher=Mali – Ministere de L’energie, des Mines et de L’eau – Direction Nationale De L’energie |accessdate=3 January 2015 |language=French |date=2008}}{{cite web |title=Dam Projects |url=http://www.portail-omvs.org/infrastructure-regionale/barrages/projets-barrages |publisher=Senegal River Basin Authority |accessdate=3 January 2015 |language=French |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170303123323/http://www.portail-omvs.org/infrastructure-regionale/barrages/projets-barrages |archive-date=3 March 2017 |url-status=dead }}