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Bui Hydroelectric Project is located in the Bui Canyon of the Black  Volta River in the western region ofGhana, some 150km upstream from the Lake  Volta.  It is the largest investment project for China in Ghana. The catchment area upstream from the dam site measures 123,000km2. The annual average inflow is 207m3/s, and the annual average runoff volume 6.523×109 m3. The project development is intended mainly for power generation purpose.

Bui Hydroelectric Project is mainly composed of the main dam located in the Bui Canyon, and Saddle Dam 1 and Saddle Dam 2 respectively in two passes on the right bank. At the normal pool level, the reservoir’s capacity is 12.57×109 m3. The dead level and the limiting dead level are EL.168.00m and EL.160.00m respectively. At the limiting dead level, the storage capacity of the reservoir is 4.85×109 m3. The active storage is 7.72×109 m3.

The main dam is an RCC gravity one, with a maximum height of 108m. The dam crest is 492.50m long and 7m wide at the elevation of EL.185.00m. The spillway is arranged in the middle of the main dam crest, a little to the right side, with 5 outlets, the overall overflow width of 75m, the weir crest elevation of EL.166.50m, and the design discharge capacity of 10450m3/s. The downstream energy dissipation employs the ski-jump type. The power intake is located in the middle of the main dam, a little to the left side, with 3 intlets, the overall width of 58.5m, and the intake invert elevation of EL.145.00m. The headrace system is designed in a fashion that there are three conduits, and each conduit is followed by one unit. The penstocks in a diameter of 6.5m will be openly laid over the downstream dam slope. The powerhouse is a surface one at the dam toe on the left bank, accommodating three turbine-generator units with a total installed capacity of 400MW (3*133MW). The water release outlet is set below between the power intake and the spillway with the inlet invert elevation of EL.115.00m, having the discharge capacity of 80.29m3/s under the limiting dead level of EL.160.00m. The switchyard is an outdoor type one to be arranged at the downstream side of the powerhouse on the left bank.

Saddle Dam 1 is an earth core rockfill dam, with a maximum height of 52.5m, and the dam crest is 8m wide at the elevation of EL.187.00m. Saddle Dam 2 is a homogeneous earthfill dam, with a maximum height of 7m, the dam crest elevation is identical with that of Saddle Dam 1, and the dam crest width is 6m.