Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Inga hydro project on Congo river too risky-AfDB

http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFLDE75S0YR20110629?sp=true

Inga hydro project on Congo river too risky-AfDB
Wed Jun 29, 2011 1:16pm GMT

* Alternative plan may be cheaper
* BHP Billiton seen as potential client


CAPE TOWN, June 29 (Reuters) - Current plans to develop the stalled $8-
$10 billion Inga 3 hydropower project on the Congo river may be too
risky because of costs and time, a senior African Development Bank
(AfDB) official said on Wednesday.

The bank is financing a study for the Democratic Republic of Congo
(DRC) government to optimize development of the Congo river's immense
hydropower potential, with a pre-feasibility study expected in
September.

Current plans for the development of the Inga 3 project entail
drilling up to 70 kilometres of tunnels into rock formations whose
geology is not well known, and only drawing a maximum of 3,500
megawatts of power.

Hela Cheikhrouhou, director energy and environment at AfDB, told
Reuters on the sidelines of a G20 infrastructure meeting that
preliminary findings suggested this was a very risky option because it
could cost more and take more time than anticipated.

Cheikhrouhou said the findings showed it would be better to remove the
tunnelling option in favour of open channels which could be helped
with a dam.

"With that solution, the DRC government ... could build a 3,500 up to
7,000 megawatt project which will be per cost of electricity generated
cheaper, faster to implement and less risky," Cheikhrouhou said.

"We think this is actually a game-changer," she said.

The Inga 3 hydropower scheme on the Congo is one of the largest
proposed projects in Africa aimed at overcoming power shortages that
have curtailed economic growth.

Cheikhrouhou said rough estimates suggested it would cost in the
region of $7 billion for a 3,500 MW project, doubling to $14 billion
for 7,000 MW, with first power only likely in 2020 in what would be a
public-private partnership.

She said global mining group BHP Billiton , South Africa and Nigeria
would probably be the main clients.

(Reporting by Wendell Roelf, editing by Ed Stoddard and Keiron
Henderson)

(For more Africa cover visit: af.reuters.com -- To comment on this
story email: SouthAfrica.Newsroom@reuters.com)
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Tuesday, June 28, 2011

China, Ecuador Sign $2 Billion Loan Deal

China, Ecuador Sign $2 Billion Loan Deal
Wall Street Journal (Online)
27 June 2011
By Alvaro, Mercedes.

QUITO--Ecuador's government on Monday signed a loan agreement for $2
billion with China Development Bank Corp., the Finance Ministry said, as
China deepens its financial ties with the South American nation and the
region.

The loan was signed in Beijing by Ecuador's undersecretary of Public
Credit, William Vasconez, said the ministry in a press release, but it
didn't provide any detail.

Two weeks ago, Finance Ministry Patricio Rivera said that the loan will
be for eight years, with an interest rate of 6.9%, and a two- or
three-year grace period.

China has become the biggest source of financing for the Andean country,
after it defaulted on $3.2 billion of government bonds in 2008,
effectively losing access to overseas capital markets.

The new credit reinforces the Asian giant's growing role as Ecuador's
leading lender, and Ecuador's increasing dependence on Chinese
financing. Ecuador has also opened the door for China to invest in its
considerable oil and mineral resources, with China becoming the largest
foreign investor in the resource-rich South American nation.

At the same time, the leftist administration of President Rafael Correa
has turned its back on the Washington-based International Monetary Fund
and World Bank. Financing from other multilateral lenders such as the
Andean Development Corporation and the Inter-American Development Bank
usually is tied to specific projects.

In February, Ecuador received a $1 billion prepayment from China's
state-owned PetroChina Co. after both agreed to renew an agreement on
the supply of Ecuadorean crude oil for two years, starting in August.

In July 2009, state-run Petroecuador and PetroChina signed a similar
agreement for Petroecuador to sell Oriente and Napo crude to PetroChina.
In August of that year, the Andean country received an advance payment
of $1 billion, at an interest rate of 7.25%.

Last year, Ecuador's government signed a loan agreement for $1 billion
with the China Development Bank with a fixed interest rate of 6% per
year for a four-year term and an additional six-month grace period.
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On the Road to Green Energy for All

On the Road to Green Energy for All
Monday, June 27, 2011 5:47 AM

(Source: IPS - Inter Press Service)By Leahy, Stephen
http://www.istockanalyst.com/business/news/5257326/on-the-road-to-green-energy-for-all

Now an ambitious global effort is being launched by the United Nations
to bring electricity to everyone on the planet by 2030. 'Energy is the
issue for the next decade,' said Kandeh Yumkella, director-general of
the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).

'Achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is impossible
without energy,' Yumkella said at the opening of the 2011 Vienna
Energy Forum last week.

The MDGs include reducing by half the proportion of people living in
poverty by 2015, and ensuring environmental sustainability.

Some 1,200 delegates from 100 countries participated in the forum,
along with 40 government ministers, to discuss how to bring clean,
efficient, reliable and affordable energy services for the long-term
prosperity of all people.

'The 791 million people in sub-Saharan Africa use as much electricity
as the 19 million in metropolitan New York City,' Yumkella told
delegates.

Indoor air pollution from burning dung, charcoal, and wood for heating
and cooking leads to nearly two million premature deaths of women and
children every year, more than all the deaths from malaria and
tuberculosis, he said. 'We're here to prepare an action plan to be
launched later this year to change all this.'

Extending electrical services to the 1.5 billion who have no access
will cost between 30 and 40 billion dollars a year for the next 20
years, according to various estimates by the International Energy
Agency and others. That represents just three percent of current
annual expenditures on energy. And it is just eight percent of what is
currently spent on subsidies for fossil fuels, said Carsten Staur, the
permanent representative of Denmark to the United Nations.

'The goal of energy for all is ambitious but doable,' Staur said.

That goal is one of three energy goals U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-
moon asked participants at the Forum to support and on which to
develop a plan of action to be launched in 2012 during the U.N.
International Year for Sustainable Energy for All.

The other two goals are to reduce energy intensity by 40 percent and
to increase the share of renewable energy to 30 percent globally by
2030. These goals bring a multitude of benefits, including cleaner
air, sustainable economic development, climate change mitigation,
better health and livelihoods and more, Ban told delegates by video-
link.

Energy experts calculate that decentralised, off-grid technologies
like wind, solar, geo-thermal and micro-hydro energy generation are
the fastest and more cost effective way for most who have no access.

Extending current electrical grids only makes economic sense to meet
15-25 percent of the need due to the high costs.

'Access to electricity is the key to overcoming poverty,' said Ged
Davis, co-president of the Global Energy Assessment (GEA) Council.

Davis warned that most of this electricity for the poor needs to be
green to avoid adding more carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels
like coal. 'There's plenty of fossil fuels left in the ground. There
is no way we can burn known coal reserves without a horrendous impact
on the climate,' Davis told the forum.

A rapid transition away from fossil fuel energy sources is needed to
avoid dangerous climate change, scientists agree. Developed countries
need to reduce their carbon emissions 40 percent by 2020. The European
Union has made cuts of nearly 20 percent so far, but countries like
the U.S., Canada and Australia are far behind.

Fortunately, the energy potential of renewable energy is far greater
than fossil fuels but they are conceptually different since renewables
are energy flows not energy units, Davis said.

That is one issue the Global Energy Assessment (GEA) will tackle in
its advice to policy makers. The GEA is a five-year scientific
assessment involving hundreds of energy experts on how to meet the
world's energy needs.

The GEA will be a policy-relevant assessment, lay out the linked
options for going forward, provide a vision of how to resolve energy
challenges simultaneously and provide new insight into the potential
leverage points for achieving more sustainable energy futures. It is
expected to be released in 2012.

Energy efficiency is the key to bringing energy services to everyone
and dealing with climate change, Davis said, noting that, 'Efficiency
opens up enormous flexibility in energy choices.'

It is also two to three times better to invest in efficiency than in
energy generation. Buildings can use 90 percent less energy, and can
even be retrofitted to generate surplus energy, he said.

However, less than 50 million dollars a year is being invested
globally in research into renewables and energy efficiency, an amount
he calls 'peanuts'.

The biggest challenge of this decade is avoiding 'locking into current
technologies', he warned. Building coal-fired power plants, high-
energy buildings and other infrastructure today locks countries onto a
wasteful energy and high-carbon emission pathway for the next 20 or 30
years.

Development with a 'high-carbon lock in' poses a danger to all.
Everyone on the planet has a stake in the success of the U.N.'s
Sustainable Energy for All campaign. However, finding the 30 to 40
billion dollars a year to make this happen won't be easy, warns
Monique Barbut, CEO and chair of the Global Environment Facility
(GEF), the world's largest funder of projects to improve the global
environment.

'It's an extremely large amount to sustain for two decades. Getting
the funding is a big challenge,' Barbut told the forum.

The GEF, which has 182 governments as members, has invested 3.1
billion dollars to finance low carbon projects in its 20-year existence.

'The private sector is not going to invest in this unless they are
assured of a good return. That's the reality,' she said.

(c) NoticiasFinancieras - Inter Press Services - All rights reserved

Copyright (c) 2011 IPS

(c) 2011 IPS - Inter Press Service. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All
rights Reserved.

A service of YellowBrix, Inc.
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Monday, June 27, 2011

Hydrodependent Tanzania announces indefinite power outages

Tanzania announces indefinite power outages

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/25/tanzania-power-idUSLDE75O07C20110625
Jun 25, 2011

* Drought, fuel shortage hits power generation

* Nation faces daily 12-hour electricity cuts


DAR ES SALAAM, June 25 (Reuters) - Tanzania's state-run power company
has announced daily 12-hour power cuts for an unspecified period
because of low water levels at hydropower dams and a shortage of fuel
for thermal power generation.

East Africa's second largest economy has been plagued by frequent
power-outages since December.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) cut its 2011 growth forecast for
Tanzania to 6 percent from 7.2 percent in March, saying frequent power
outages would hurt output while food and fuel prices could push
inflation higher.

The latest round of power cuts caused by a national shortfall of 200
megawatts (MW) come after a deficit of natural gas supply in May led
to rolling 16-hour power blackouts.

"The Tanzania Electric Supply Company (TANESCO) regrets to inform its
customers ... that it has been forced to extend power rationing to all
regions connected to the national grid, including Zanzibar," the
company said in a statement seen by Reuters on Saturday.

The utility did not say when the power rationing would end.

TANESCO said water levels at the country's main hydroelectric dams
were almost depleted, leading to a reduction in power generation.

"By June 22, the water level at Mtera dam was only 690.88 metres above
sea level ... the minimum level at the dam, which will not allow power
generation, is 690 metres above sea level," said the statement.

Tanzania depends heavily on hydropower for energy and experiences
frequent power shortages during dry seasons.

TANESCO said the government will import heavy fuel oil for a privately-
owned power plant that currently generates just 10-megawatts against
its installed capacity of 100 MW.

Dollar demand from oil importers is one of the factors that helped
drive the Tanzanian shilling to a record low against the dollar this
month.

Tanzania has energy demand close to 900 MW capacity, but produces less
than 800 MW.

The government has floated tenders inviting independent power
producers to set up emergency power plants this year to generate an
additional 260 MW of power.

The country's five-year development plan targets generation of more
than 2,700-megawatts by 2015/16.

(For more on hydrodpendency in Africa, see http://www.internationalrivers.org/en/node/5808)
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Sudan seeks to tap 'blue gold' with new dam projects

www.zawya.com/story.cfm/sidANA20110626T023413ZRUQ09
Sudan seeks to tap 'blue gold' with new dam projects
By Abdelmoneim Abu Edris Ali

ROSEIRES DAM, Jun 26, 2011 (AFP) - Sudan is aggressively seeking to tap
its abundant Nile waters with new dam projects as the oil-rich south's
independence looms, but experts warn of the social and environmental
costs, and the bearing on the Nile water sharing dispute.

Khartoum sits on the confluence of the Blue and White Niles.

The cash-strapped government has good reasons for wanting to exploit its
"blue gold," a valuable resource that will help to offset the imminent
loss of revenues from southern oil -- some 36 percent of its income --
when south Sudan proclaims independence on July 9.

"Sudan is clearly gearing up in terms of agriculture, because of the oil
gap that comes with the separation of the south. To the extent that it
can do more in the way of dams, that is its economic security," said a
Sudan-based environmentalist, requesting anonymity.

Last week, during a ministerial visit, the engineer responsible for
heightening the vast Roseires dam, on the Blue Nile, said the $400
million project, which is due for completion in June 2012, would create
three million feddans (1.3 million hectares) of farmland.

It will also more than double the amount of water the reservoir can
store -- to 7.4 billion cubic metres -- and raise its 280 megawatts of
power generation capacity by 50 percent.

The Atbara and Seteet dams being built in Kassala state, meanwhile, will
add another one million feddans of new farmland and have a combined
generation capacity of 320 megawatts when they are completed in
September 2015, at a cost $840 million, according to their chief engineer.

The Gulf-funded and Chinese-built dam projects that the Sudanese
government has embarked on dwarf other public development programmes.

"Sudan's ambitious dam strategy has been the single biggest source of
discretionary spending in the last few years and represents a key
development priority," said Harry Verhoeven, an expert on water and
agriculture in Sudan, in a report published this month by the Chatham
House think tank.

"The Merowe Dam alone (completed in 2009 at a cost of more than $2
billion) took up almost 40 percent of total public investment in
national development projects between 2005 and 2008."

But there are doubts about the cost effectiveness of such massive
schemes, and major concerns about the displacement of tens of thousands
families, as well as the environmental implications of building the dams
at relatively low altitude.

The raising of Roseires is expected to see the resettlement of 22,000
families, which the Minister of Electricity and Dams, Osama Abdullah,
said would prevent them from being affected by the seasonal flooding of
the Nile.

But others say the change will be a traumatic experience for those
forced to move, as with the more than 40,000 people who were ordered to
leave their homes to make way for the Merowe dam and its vast reservoir
three years ago.

In addition, as Verhoeven argues, if such projects had been built on
Ethiopia's stretch of the Blue Nile, at higher altitude, the evaporation
rates would have been seven times lower than in Sudan and caused less
displacement.

But Sudan appears in no mood to question its projects, and is
negotiating with a another Chinese contractor to build the Kajbar dam
further downstream, on the third cataract of the Nile, at an estimated
cost of $700 million.

Some experts point to another factor motivating Sudan's dam building
strategy, namely concerns about its future allocation of Nile waters.

Upstream countries that share the Nile River basin have demanded the
revision of colonial-era agreements that allot more than 90 percent of
the river's water to Egypt and Sudan and allow Cairo to veto upstream
projects.

The revised agreement has been signed by Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda,
Tanzania, Uganda and Burundi and seeks to allow irrigation and
hydroelectric projects to go ahead without downstream consent.

"The sticking point in renegotiating the Nile basin treaty is the
allocation of water quantities," said the environmentalist who asked not
to be named.

"Unlike Egypt, Sudan is not using all of its existing allocation. That
is partly why Sudan is so keen to build new dams. It gives it a stronger
position when they're negotiating the new treaty," he added.

sma-str/bpz/rl

© Copyright AFP 2011.
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Friday, June 24, 2011

Dam-affected Penan people cheated out of their land

[The Murum Dam is being built by the China Three Gorges Corporation,
with a subcontract for Sinohydro. The project is being developed by
Sarawak Energy Berhad, a "sustainability partner" of the International
Hydropower Association.]

Penan hunter-gatherers to be dumped in vast oil palm plantation
Survival International, 15 June 2011
www.survivalinternational.org/news/7370

More than 1,000 Penan hunter-gatherers will be taken from their
rainforest home and dumped in a vast oil palm plantation - to make way
for the controversial Murum dam.

The Penan have said they do not want to move, but have been given no
choice. They told the government that if they had to leave they wanted
to move to another part of their ancestral land.

The government accepted this - but has sold the same area to the
Malaysian company Shin Yang, which is clearing the forest and planting
thousands of oil palms.

The Penan, who live in the Malaysian state of Sarawak, rely on their
forest for hunting and collecting wild fruits and plants; without it
they cannot survive.

In an emotional appeal the Penan said, "Shin Yang has entered the area
illegally without our consent. If it is allowed to extensively clear and
fell the forest, there will be no more forest left for our community to
sustain our livelihood".

Survival's Director, Stephen Corry, said today, "Even by the appalling
standards of the Sarawak government, which has treated the Penan with
contempt for decades, this is breathtakingly cynical. Not only is it
forcing more than 1,000 people from the forests they have lived in for
generations, it has sold off the area it promised them as a new home,
and is allowing it to be cleared for plantations. It looks like the
government won't be satisfied until the Penan are reduced to utter
poverty and destitution."

Notes to Editors:

The Murum dam, due to come onstream next year, is the first in a series
of twelve new hydroelectric dams that will flood Penan and other
indigenous villages.

The twelve new dams will facilitate the development of the "Sarawak
corridor of renewable energy" (SCORE), which will involve oil, timber,
aluminium and palm oil enterprises and will further threaten the land of
Sarawak's tribal people
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Thursday, June 23, 2011

Double Choke Point: Demand for Energy Tests Water Supply and Economic Stability in China and the U.S.

Double Choke Point: Demand for Energy Tests Water Supply and Economic
Stability in China and the U.S.
22 June 2011
http://www.circleofblue.org/waternews/2011/world/choke-point-china-us-comparison/

By Keith Schneider
Circle of Blue

The coal mines of Inner Mongolia, China and the oil and gas fields of
the northern Great Plains in the United States are separated by 11,200
kilometers (7,000 miles) of ocean and 5,600 kilometers (3,500 miles) of
land.

But, in form and function, the two fossil fuel development zones�the
newest and largest in both nations�are illustrations of the escalating
clash between energy demand and freshwater supplies that confront the
stability of the world�s two biggest economies. How each nation responds
will profoundly influence energy prices, food production, and economic
security not only in their domestic markets, but also across the globe.

Both energy zones require enormous quantities of water�to mine, process,
and use coal; to drill, fracture, and release oil and natural gas from
deep layers of shale. Both zones also occur in some of the driest
regions in China and the U.S. And both zones reflect national priorities
on fossil fuel production that are causing prodigious damage to the
environment and putting enormous upward pressure on energy prices and
inflation in China and the United States, say economists and scholars.

�To what degree is China taking into account the rising cost of energy
as a factor in rising overall prices in their economy?� David Fridley
said in an interview with Circle of Blue. Fridley is a staff scientist
in the China Energy Group at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in
California. �What level of aggregate energy cost increases can China
sustain before they tip over?�

�That�s where China�s next decade is heading�accommodating rising energy
costs,� he added. �We�re already there in the United States. In 13
months, we�ll be fully in recession in this country; 9 percent of our
GDP is energy costs. That�s higher than it�s been. When energy costs
reach eight to nine percent of GDP, as they have in 2011, the economy is
pushed into recession within a year.�

Economies of Scale
China is growing and modernizing at a pace and scale never before seen
in history, while the U.S. is mired in an economic downturn, caused
largely by rising energy prices.

Indeed, given the different economic circumstances that grip both
countries�one soaring and the other in a serious slump�they nevertheless
view energy production as the top national priority. Growth and
development at such a scale demand innumerable resources, particularly
water. As a result, the water needs of Chinese and American energy
producers take precedence over any other economic sector.

�The United States confronts the same kind of resource conflicts as
China,� Fridley said. �There are increasing expectations of
confrontation over water as a factor in energy production.�

Coal production in Inner Mongolia and shale oil drilling in the northern
Great Plains reflect this homage to carbon-based fuels. The development
of carbon resources in both regions uses more water than any other
industrial sector except agriculture. It also is pouring into the
atmosphere millions of metric tons of the climate-changing gases that
climatologists say are warming the planet, changing patterns of
precipitation, and increasing the intensity of droughts and storms.

The extremes in weather, in turn, make it even more difficult to
generate carbon-based energy as severe droughts affect mining and
drilling operations.

Yet, by insisting on developing new sources of carbon-based fuels that
are drawn essentially from the desert both nations are testing the
limits of their national water reserves and challenging the capacity of
other important economic sectors�agriculture, large metropolitan
regions, major manufacturers�to use much less water.

�China�s continued growth and stability hinge on finding a more
sustainable strategy to cope with its water and energy demand,� Parag
Khanna told Circle of Blue. Khanna is an author, global strategist, and
senior research fellow at the Washington, D.C.-based New America
Foundation. �The external risk of friction with its southern neighbors
over water diversions and internal tensions due to falling water supply
and environmental pollution are both growing.�

Droughts Affecting Fossil Fuel Development
Despite national agendas that are focused on domestic energy security,
there are a score of environmental, economic, and political impediments
that lie in the path to large increases in Chinese and American energy
production.

Few, though, are more significant than the steadily diminishing reserves
of fresh water in both countries. China lost 35 billion cubic meters
(9.3 million gallons) of water every year over the past decade,
according to figures from the National Bureau of Statistics. The U.S.
also lost water, a total of 19 billion cubic meters (5.02 trillion
gallons) in the period from 1985 to 2005.

In the last year, energy-water choke points have become more urgent and
visible in both countries.

From January to June, a severe drought in southern China not only
reduced hydroelectrical generation in the Yangtze River Basin, but low
water levels also curtailed coal shipments to manufacturers and power
plants down river. Similarly, northern China endured its driest winter
in the past 60 years, which put pressure on already limited water
resources used by coal producers. This led to further coal supply
reductions, higher coal prices, and contributed to inflation.

Though coal prices are soaring, China�s energy producers can�t raise
consumer prices because of tight state control over electricity fees.
Instead, they are cutting power output to save money.

In May, China�s top five power utilities�which generate half of the
country�s electricity�reported $US 1.62 billion (RMB 10.5 billion) worth
of losses in their coal-fired power plants during the first four months
of the year, according to the Xinhua News Agency. China�s main
electricity distribution company, the State Grid, warned that power
shortages this year could reach 30 to 40 gigawatts, even if coal and
water supplies are normal for the rest of the season.

Texas has faced similar drought conditions. The period from October to
May has been the driest since the state began keeping records in 1895,
according to Texas A&M University.

The Texas drought is prompting shale oil and gas producers to seek tens
of millions of gallons of water from farmers. The water is needed for
hydraulic fracturing�the process of injecting water, chemicals, and sand
at high pressure into sedimentary rock formations to free up the oil and
natural gas trapped inside.

As the price of water is climbing, farmers and ranchers are deciding how
much they are willing to sell.

In 2009, there were 358 natural gas drilling rigs in Texas alone, and
that number had increased to 709 rigs by 2010, according to the Natural
Gas Supply Association. Each rig can drill multiple wells in a year and
each well typically uses upwards of 19,000 cubic meters (5 million
gallons) of water for �fracking.� In southern Texas� Eagle Ford Shale,
however, fracking one well can use as many as 49,000 cubic meters (13
million gallons), due to the region�s unusual geology.

Additionally, because of the severe drought in Texas, water supplies
have become a big issue for opponents of a coal-fired power plant
proposed for Matagorda County. On June 16, the Lower Colorado River
Authority (LCRA) delayed a vote to decide whether to sell more than 30
million cubic meters (8 billion gallons) of water per year to the owners
of the planned White Stallion generating station.

�This delay is a victory for those opposing the coal plant and a step in
the right direction in convincing the LCRA that this project is not a
beneficial or responsible use of water from the Colorado River Basin,�
Ryan Rittenhouse wrote in an article for TexasVox, an online publication
of Public Citizen in Texas.

Droughts Affecting Hydropower Generation�Three Gorges and Hoover Dams
In both China and the United States, hydropower is a significant source
of energy that does not rely on carbon-based fuels. But this spring�s
drought in central and eastern China has crippled hydroelectric power
generation throughout the Yangtze River Basin, creating a power deficit,
the effects reverberated across the country.

In late May, the operators of China�s Three Gorges Dam began releasing
torrents of water to revive the drought-depleted Yangtze River and to
protect water supplies for downstream farms, fisheries, people, and
livestock. Since January, more than 19 billion cubic meters (5 trillion
gallons) of water have been released from the world�s biggest dam to
China�s largest river, with 5 billion cubic meters (1.3 trillion
gallons) flowing just in the last few weeks.

The emergency action had a cascading effect on the country�s energy
supply. At the peak of the drought, water levels at the reservoir had
dropped four meters (13 feet) below the minimum level needed to operate
its turbines efficiently. Hydroelectrical output fell during the time of
year when output should be at its highest: spring melt. According to
official figures, nearly 1,400 dams in Hubei Province�home of the Three
Gorges�do not have enough water to generate any electricity at all,
Reuters reported.

To compensate, China has increased electricity prices and cut diesel
exports by half, making the fuel available for domestic power
generation. As a result, analysts speaking with Bloomberg News predicted
rising demand for coal. Still, the seven-month drought has China bracing
for its worst summer of power outages since 2004.

Though they did not endure power cuts, water and power customers in the
American Southwest can certainly commiserate. Just eight months ago,
water levels in Lake Mead�the reservoir behind the Hoover Dam�dropped to
record lows and came within two meters (six feet) of triggering a
first-ever shortage declaration on the Colorado River.

The Colorado River Basin supports more than 30 million people and
irrigates a $US 3 billion agricultural industry. Dams in the basin,
including the Hoover Dam, are a key source of base-load power for much
of the Southwest.

Electrical generation at the Hoover Dam fell steadily during the
decade-long drought, with its output in 2009 registering 30 percent
lower than in 1999. Like their Chinese counterparts, utilities in the
Southwest turned to fossil fuels to make up the shortfall. If climate
change, as it is widely assumed, causes river flows to decline even
further, lower-than-capacity electrical generation could be the new
standard in both countries.

Regional Droughts�What Do They Mean?
The regional droughts are a warning of the much bigger energy production
and economic challenge facing both nations, according to Fridley.

�People say to me, �Oh, you�re so negative.� I say, �Let�s face up to
what we�re up against,�� Fridley said. �It�s energy. It�s food. It�s water.�

Adequate water supplies are more essential than ever for producing
energy from reserves of coal, oil, and natural gas that are increasingly
difficult to tap, process, and move to market. Both nations are trying
to stave off energy shortages that would drive prices to such a high
level that their economies could tilt to sharp and enduring declines.

�I don�t see how you can look in-depth at these issues of water use and
not understand�we do not make water,� Fridley said. �We have a problem
that, to me, is going to force us to be much more mature about how we
live and what we need to change.�

Solutions: China Ahead of U.S.
Though both nations are investing in water-sipping and much cleaner
renewable energy sources�particularly solar and wind production�make no
mistake about their primary economic objectives. China and the United
States are pursuing development strategies largely devoted, at least for
the next two decades, to perpetuating the fossil fuel economies of the
20th century.

In both countries, freshwater reserves are in erratic supply in
important energy-producing regions�northern China�s coalfields and
southern China�s hydropower region; the oil shale region of the northern
Great Plains and the coal fields of the Rocky Mountain West.

While China and the U.S. share many of the broad trends in energy
production and water supply, there are big differences when it comes to
anticipating and developing rational responses to the tightening choke
points between these two critical resources.

China�s business, provincial, and central government leadership have
developed a long-term growth plan, and a number of the conservation
steps that have been enforced have actually worked:

* Since 1995, China�s economy grew eight-fold, but its water consumption
increased about 1 percent a year, or just less than 16 percent over 15
years.
* China�s big northern cities, led by Beijing, are developing innovative
water recycling programs to convert wastewater to gray water, which can
be used for flushing toilets, washing cars, and landscaping.
* Big industrial plants are required to recycle nearly all of the water
they use in manufacturing steel, cement, glass, vehicles, and other
products.

And China is not afraid of acting quickly to avoid making its water
shortages worse. For instance, as recently as 2008, China had planned to
build a total of 23 large coal-to-liquids refineries, where, instead of
being burned for power generation, coal is pulverized to dust, mixed
with water, and heated to produce diesel fuel. At first, the pay-off
seemed well worth it�roughly $US 50 a barrel to produce in the current
$US 112-per-barrel global oil market�until the water investment was
assessed.

When Chinese authorities learned that an operational refinery�owned by
Shenhua Group, China�s largest coal producer�annually used 10 million
cubic meters (2.6 billion gallons) of water to convert 4.1 million
metric tons (4.5 million short tons) of coal into 1.1 million metric
tons (1.2 million short tons) of diesel, the government curtailed the
program.

Just three other coal-to-liquids plants, already under construction and
much smaller than the Shenhua plant, were allowed to proceed to completion.

In contrast, there has been a surprising lack of urgency among U.S.
state and federal leaders despite clear evidence of rising energy demand
and diminishing freshwater. Within the last year, however,
administrative changes have been proposed to prod the government to do
more to understand the trend:

* The U.S. Department of Energy has deliberately prevented public
disclosure of an important 2009 study�commissioned by Congress in
2005�to develop a scientific roadmap to outline the areas of research
that should be pursued to resolve energy-water choke points.
* In June, the U.S. Senate began considering the Energy and Water
Integration Act, legislation that would mandate more studies on water
and energy efficiency, conservation, current water use for energy
production�both in transport fuels and electricity generation�and
technological evaluations.

Perpetual Fossil Fuels and Chronic Water Shortages
By no means, though, does China have all the answers. While China is
doing a better job than the United States in anticipating and responding
to new trends, neither country is close to resolving the confrontation
between rising energy demand and unstable freshwater reserves.

Unless China either gets much wetter or pushes harder to conserve water
or more speedily develops bigger wind, solar, and seawater-cooled
nuclear sectors�which do not use much fresh water�the country faces a
crippling energy shortage by the end of the decade.

Because of its prominence as the world�s largest market for food,
energy, steel, cement, cars, trains, and other goods, how China resolves
the confrontation between rising energy demand and scarce water supplies
will affect not only the economy of the United States, but also those of
almost every other industrialized nation.

�China recognizes the sheer magnitude of extracting as much coal as it
is now in a single year,� concluded David Fridley of Lawrence Berkeley
National Laboratory. �They have talked about capping coal production at
3.6 billion metric tons annually in the new Five-Year Plan. It�s not at
all clear from their available water supply, transportation limits, and
production costs that they can sustain coal production at 4 billion
metric tons per year for even a couple of years.

�All of these limits feed into price increases that can change behavior
before China runs into an absolute energy shortage,� Fridley added.
�That�s what we don�t know�will price impacts be enough to change
behavior? Or will there be absolute energy shortages?�

Keith Schneider�who has reported on energy, water, and climate change
from four continents�is a Traverse City-based senior editor for Circle
of Blue. Reach him at keith@circleofblue.org.

Contributions by Aubrey Ann Parker, Brett Walton, Nadya Ivanova, and
Travis Miller�reporters for Circle of Blue. Also from Jennifer Turner,
Washington, D.C.-based director of the China Environment Forum at the
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
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China to build new hydroelectric power plants

Nation to build new hydroelectric power plants
By Du Juan (China Daily)
2011-06-23 07:48

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2011-06/23/content_12756229.htm

BEIJING - China will invest 400 billion yuan ($62 billion) in the
construction of four hydroelectric dams, to help the government boost
the share of non-fossil fuels in national energy consumption.

The country will increase the share of non-fossil sources to 20 percent
of national energy consumption by 2030 and to one-third by 2050, said
Han Wenke, director of the Energy Research Center at the National
Development and Reform Commission on Wednesday.

"There is no doubt that the country is able to increase non-fossil
sources to 15 percent of the energy mix by 2020," he said.

China Three Gorges Corp will be in charge of the four hydroelectric
dams, named Xiluodu, Xiangjiaba, Wudongde, and Baihetan, on the Jinsha
River, a tributary of the Yangtze River, the longest river in Asia and
the third-longest in the world.

Part of the investment will be provided by equity trading, said Li Jing,
deputy director of the company's planning and development department.

He declined to disclose further details of the financing plan.

The total installed capacity of the four dams will be 43 million
kilowatts (kW), and is expected to be double that of the Three Gorges
Dam, the world's largest power station in terms of installed or
production capacity, according to the company.

The four hydroelectric stations will be able to supply 190 billion
kilowatt hours annually when the project is completed.

The production efficiency and environmental and geological impact of the
Three Gorges Dam have been the focus of intense discussion recently.
Some experts said the plant has severely polluted the local environment.

However, industry insiders argued that it is necessary for the country
to continue the development of hydroelectric stations.

"To increase water-power generation is still the priority for the power
industry," said Ouyang Changyu, deputy secretary-general of the China
Electric Council. "As long as the government can balance the
contradiction between the construction of hydropower stations and the
environment, it can develop hydropower production at a reasonable pace."

"It is impossible for the country to increase the non-fossil energy
share to 15 percent in the energy mix by the end of 2020 if it slows the
construction speed of hydroelectric stations," said Li. "In fact, the
unit cost of hydroelectricity is lower than coal-fired electricity if we
add the environmental cost into the calculation."

According to the company, the Xiangjiaba and Xiluodu hydropower stations
are likely to be operational within the next two years. The Xiangjiaba
hydropower station is scheduled to start running in 2012 with an
installed capacity of 6.4 million kW, followed by the Xiluodu station in
2013 with 13.68 million kW of installed capacity.
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Laos defies neighbors on dam project: environmentalists [Reuters, 23.06.11]


Laos defies neighbors on dam project: environmentalists

BANGKOK= =EF=BF=BD|=EF=BF=BDThu Jun 23, 2011 12:49pm BST=

(Reuters) - Laos is forging ahead with construction of a controversial $3.5 billion hydropower dam in breach of an agreement to suspend the project pending approval by ministers of neighboring countries, an environmental group said on Thursday.

The Lao government has already given Thai developer Ch Karnchang the go-ahead to resume work on the Xayaburi Dam, informing the company that the Mekong River Commission's (MRC) decision-making process was complete, according to International Rivers, an environmental and human rights group.

"The government of Laos has committed an egregious breach of trust and has joined the ranks of rogue nations," Ame Trandem, a campaigner with International Rivers, said in a statement, citing leaked correspondence.

With its big ambitions to export hydropower, impoverished Laos is dubbed the "battery of Southeast Asia," but experts warn that the Xayaburi project -- one of 11 new dams planned by Laos -- could cause untold environmental damage and spark a food security crisis downstream in Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia.

Mekong basin countries are bound by treaty to hold inter-governmental consultations before building dams.

After months of pressure from environmentalists and neighboring countries, Laos agreed on April 19 to defer the project until a meeting of ministers of the four countries involved, slated for the end of the year.

However, International Rivers distributed a leaked letter to the media on Thursday, dated June 8 and sent by Laos' energy ministry to the Xayaburi Power Company, stating the consultation process was complete.

Shares in Ch Karnchang Pcl, which has a 57 percent stake in the Xayaburi Dam, had jumped 4 percent on Monday after state-run Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand, which has a 12.5 percent stake in the dam, said Laos might not delay construction of the project.

Ch Karnchang declined to comment on Thursday while authorities in Laos were not immediately available for comment.

Ecologists and river experts have criticized an environmental impact assessment conducted last year by the Lao government and warn that the livelihoods of 60 million people in the lower Mekong region are at risk if the dam goes ahead without proper risk assessment.

Scores of fish species face extinction, fish stocks will dwindle as migratory routes get blocked and swathes of rice-rich land could be deprived of fertile silt carried downstream by Southeast Asia's longest waterway, experts say.

Laos is committed to supplying 7,000 MW of power to Thailand, 5,000 MW to Vietnam and 1,500 MW to Cambodia by 2015. Its energy ministry says it has the potential to generate 28,000 MW from the Mekong.

Watt Botkosal, deputy secretary general of Cambodia's National Mekong Committee, reacted with dismay and said Laos had promised to conduct a cross-border study during a regional meeting in Jakarta last month.

"The impact study is incomplete, so why has this decision been made?" Watt Botkosal told Reuters. "We have not even received any such study."

According to the leaked letter, Laos said a one-month study had been conducted by an international consultancy group. No details were provided.

(Reporting by Martin Petty; Additional reporting by Prak Chan Thul in Phnom Penh; Editing by=EF=BF=BDAlan Raybould)

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/06/23/us-laos-dam-idUKTRE75M2DE= 20110623

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

New hydropower station begins operation in Nyingtri, Tibet

New hydropower station begins operation in Nyingtri, Tibet
TibetanReview.net
June 20, 2011
http://www.tibetanreview.net/news.php?&id=9097

China said Jun 17 that it began operating that day a new hydropower
station in Gongbo (Tibetan: Kongpo) Gyamda county of Nyingtri
prefecture. It said the 1.288 billion yuan (US$200 million) project
had an installed capacity of 102 megawatts.

The Laohuzui (Chinese for "tiger's mouth") hydropower station, located
about 343 km from Lhasa, is designed to generate 2.5 million to 2.6
million kilowatt-hours of electricity daily to supply Lhasa, reported
the official Xinhua news agency Jun 17.

The report said several other hydropower stations had been built in
Nyingtri prefecture, including a 722.6-million-yuan, 40,000-kilowatt
Xoka hydropower station, and a 25-billion-yuan, 3.78 million-kilowatt
Songta hydropower station.

The report noted that the prefecture had 77,000 hectares of rivers and
lakes and at least 60 million kilowatts of hydropower reserves,
indicating plans to build more hydropower stations.
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Monday, June 20, 2011

Dambusters fight giant projects

Dambusters fight giant projects

by Peter Huck

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10733015

They had been warned. But Chinese authorities chose to ignore concerns
the Three Gorges Dam on the mighty Yangtze River would spawn more than
flood control, irrigation and hydroelectricity.

For while the 2.3km wide barrier is a graphic symbol of China's
economic muscle, it also shows efforts to subjugate nature come with a
steep price.

Last month, China admitted the dam, the world's largest hydropower
station which opened in 2008, had generated "urgent" ecological,
geological and human problems.

The huge volume of water in its reservoir, which displaced 1.3 million
people, is blamed for earthquake tremors, soil erosion, polluted
drinking water and habitat destruction.

Nonetheless, as a climate-change world debates how to shift energy
paradigms, dams help drive China's rise as a global power.

The 12th Five-Year Plan includes multiple barriers for the epic,
ongoing South-North Water Transfer Project, channelling water north,
via three routes, from the Yangtze and the Brahmaputra, a vision that
dwarfs California's capture of water from the Colorado River for Los
Angeles.

Ironically, as China ponders its Three Gorges problems and embarks on
an orgy of dam construction, America, home to New Deal behemoths such
as the Hoover on the Colorado and the Columbia's Grand Coulle, is busy
rescuing wild rivers.

Last month the generators were turned off on Washington's Elwha Dam,
built in 1913, so the Elwha can reclaim its wild river status,
allowing salmon to make their first spawning run to upstream habitats
in a century, a triumph for conservationists, the salmon lobby and
local Indian tribes.

The US$325 million ($400 million) cost will likely be a pittance
compared with the cost of decommissioning four dams on the Klamath
River, in California, by 2020, history's biggest dam-removal project.

Clearly, the mega dam mantle has switched from the US to China.

"China is building most of the dams in Africa and in many developing
nations," says Lori Pottinger, editor of World Rivers Review at the US
based International Rivers Network.

"The expertise they got from building the Three Gorges project made
them first-class dam builders. And now they're selling that expertise
in return for commodities."

The boom, she says, includes "a couple of hundred" dams in Africa and
more than 150 on India's Brahmaputra watershed.

Not everyone is happy. While protest is rare in China, elsewhere
opposition to big dams has gone global, powered by new media,
grassroots anger and evidence that huge dams aren't always the answer.

"To many people large dams have become symbols of the destruction of
the natural world and of the corruption and arrogance of over-powerful
and secretive organisations, bureaucrats and Governments," Patrick
McCully, executive director of International Rivers, wrote in Silenced
Rivers: The Ecology and Politics of Large Dams, back in 1996.

International Rivers belongs to a network of environmental, social
activist and human rights groups who join peasants and indigenous
people to oppose mega dams, defined by the International Commission on
Large Dams (Icold) as over 15m tall or able to hold over 3 million cu
m of water.

Advocates such as Icold talk up dams, noting just 8 per cent of
Africa's hydro potential is used - compared with 34 per cent
worldwide, mostly in Europe, Oceania and North America - while 70 per
cent of Africans lack power. Dams, say Icold, control floods, provide
drinking water, and power economic growth.

But the quid pro quo for big-ticket items is often commodity sales and
major downstream problems. The cascade effects of, say, an aluminium
smelter on poor communities that rely on river habitats can be brutal.
Opponents champion a new energy paradigm. They stress
interconnectiveness between people and habitats, and ground-up,
sustainable projects with local involvement.

Thus, "unconventional hydro" - generating power from canals, drains,
even household plumbing - eliminates many negative effects and puts
power into everyday hands.

Such radicalism has political implications. "No one will move, the dam
will not be built," chanted protesters against India's Narmada Dam.

"We will drown but we will not move." Such sentiments resonate in
Africa, India and Latin America where protesters believe mega dams
perpetuate destructive extractive industries that benefit elites.

By 1992 Icold said the anti-dam movement had reduced "the prestige of
dam engineering in the public eye, and it is starting to make work
difficult for our profession".

But earlier hopes that global protests would drive the international
dam industry into a fatal tailspin are premature, given China's rise
as a global dam builder.

Still, the ground is shifting as the effect of dams on river
ecosystems and their inhabitants is recognised. While millions are
affected when their upstream lands and homes are flooded, the US
Nature Conservancy says 400 million worldwide who live below dams have
been adversely hit.

A 2000 World Commission on Dams report agreed dams made a "significant
contribution" to development. But they also exact harsh social and
ecological costs, displacing people, trashing habitats and unfairly
distributing benefits.

The commission hoped for change, advocating a more inclusive method of
dam planning. By and large this has not happened. Top-down projects
continue apace in Africa, Asia and South America, fuelling fierce
local resistance.

In India, author Arundhati Roy has championed protest against the
Narmada Dam.

Grassroots dambusters oppose Brazil's Belo Monte Dam, Ethiopia's Gibe
3 Dam, Chile's HidroAysen project, Panama's Barro Blanco CDM project,
India's Teestra Dam, and Colombia's Urra Dam.

Closer to home, protests, amplified by International Rivers'
newsletter, target Meridian Energy's plan to block the Mokihinui River
on the West Coast.

"Large hydro is an archaic practice and undeserving of the label
'renewable'," writes Forest and Bird's Debs Martin, who says potential
problems on a dammed Mokihinui include unnatural flow rates, habitat
damage, methane production and seismic threats.

After the 1929 7.8 Murchison quake the swollen river burst through
slips to engulf Seddonville.

The methane, a greenhouse gas 25 times more potent than carbon
dioxide, is significant. As the scramble for alternatives to fossil
fuels intensifies, hydropower is promoted as a "clean" energy. But in
2007 scientists from Brazil's National Institute for Space Research
found the world's 52,000 large dams emitted 104 million tonnes of
methane - produced by rotting vegetation in reservoirs - each year, or
4 per cent of the total warming caused by humans.

Dams in India and Brazil produce one-fifth of both nations' total
climate change impact, says Ivan Lima, who co-wrote Methane Emissions
from Large Dams as Renewable Energy Resources. The report proposes
methane be converted to energy, reducing the need for new dams.

Climate change can also alter flow patterns, especially where rivers,
such as the Mekong or Yangtze, are fed by glaciers or snowmelt.

"There's no hydrological record to inform builders on how to build and
operate these dams," says Pottinger. "Dams could become safety hazards
with extreme flooding. Or they might be white elephants unable to
produce promised power."

With worldwide scarcities of potable water, deciphering a river's
hydrograph - how water flow changes over time - is vital. Yet
engineers are too often fixated on minimum flows and where best to
site a dam to maximise power generation.

Jeff Opperman, a senior freshwater scientist with the Nature
Conservancy, stresses this isn't enough; healthy rivers need variable
flows to replenish river habitat. They must also sometimes inundate
flood plains, often the most productive part of a river system and
crucial to farmers. "Dam design is critical." Amazingly, Opperman
says, this is sometimes an afterthought.

Dams drive development which often involves deforestation, soil
erosion and silt build-up in reservoirs, fatal to power generation.

Lake Mead, formed by the Hoover Dam, is silting up even as dramatic
water falls caused by drought, arguably linked to climate change,
expose drowned canyons.

"It's an ecological disaster along the lines of the Three Gorges,"
says Pottinger. "We just took longer to get there. The Colorado River
doesn't even reach the sea anymore."

Silt also stalks the Three Gorges Dam. Dams don't last forever.
Turbines wear out. Pipes and spillways erode. Design faults appear.

Tearing down dams is expensive. But the huge sums needed to safeguard
dams to cope with climate change flow rates may accelerate this trend
worldwide.

Nonetheless, as many dams are here to stay and others will be built,
can beneficial changes be made?

Opperman cites the Penobscot River basin in Maine where local Indians,
conservationists and government agencies reached a compromise: remove
two dams, upgrade a third, and install new turbines. This allowed
migratory fish to re-enter the river's higher reaches while power
production increased.

It is a big-picture compromise that goes some way to respecting nature
and ordinary people, while tapping into the Penobscot's awesome power.

But given the mega dam juggernaut sweeping the developing world,
advocates of sustainability face a tough battle. Nature is their ally.

As China struggles with the worse drought on the Yangtze in half a
century, Beijing has had to recognise its grand visions rely as much
on conservation as mega dams.
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Sinohydro denies dam unsafe * Russia's EuroSibEnergo, Chinese co sign cooperation agreement

Sinohydro denies dam unsafe
The South China Morning Post
Toh Han Shih
June 20, 2011

Some workers on Malaysia's biggest dam, due to open next year, claim
concrete is being diluted with water - and passing quality tests

Sinohydro, China's biggest dam builder, has rejected accusations it used
unsafe construction methods to build Malaysia's Bakun dam, but
acknowledges its construction processes did not fully adhere to correct
procedures.

Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have alleged that under the watch
of Sinohydro, a Chinese state-owned enterprise, improper construction
practices in the dam were widespread and pose concerns for its future
safety.

Malaysia-China Hydro, a joint venture between Sinohydro and Malaysian
firm Sime Engineering, is the biggest contractor engaged in building the
dam, which will be Malaysia's largest when it is completed next year.
Writing in the online Sarawak Report, environmental journalist Clare
Rewcastle alleged the practice of adding excessive water to cement,
regarded as unsafe by the construction industry, was endemic in the
building of the dam.

The online report includes photos and a video of water being injected
via a hose into cement mixers before being used in the dam. It also
included a photo of a document indicating that a batch of concrete was
rejected by quality controllers because too much water had been added
into the cement.

"It is well-known that the Chinese contractors were under extreme
pressure from the Malaysian government during the period up to 2009 to
get the dam finished as quickly and cheaply as possible, after a series
of delays and cost overruns," the Sarawak Report said.

Building of the dam started in 1996 but was plagued by many delays,
including changes of ownership, contractors and management.

"It's all supposition," a Sinohydro spokeswoman was quoted saying after
seeing the video and photos. "The pictures show workers washing the silo
of the machine. We can admit the cleaning process is not correct and
doesn't follow instructions," she said.

The rejection of a batch of concrete because water was introduced could
be proof that quality control was functioning, she said. The Sarawak
Report cited an unnamed quality controller at the project who said many
batches of cement with excessive water passed quality control tests
because the measures were inadequate.

The quality controller said he often reported these problems to his
superiors at Sinohydro, but got little response or support from them.

"I used to raise this issue and nobody took any notice of it. They would
just say `okay, let it go, and warn them not to do it next time'. If I
found them adding water to the concrete I would reject it as
substandard, but I could not be everywhere all the time and I know it
was happening when I was not there," he said.

"For years Sinohydro and the contractors have refused to take adequate
action in response to official complaints of under-resourced quality
controllers at Bakun," the article in the Sarawak Report noted.

Raymond Abin, national co-ordinator of the Sarawak Conservation Alliance
for the Natural Environment, said: "The unsafe practices outlined by the
Sarawak Report are true. The group is fighting dam construction in
Sarawak, one of two Malaysian states on the island of Borneo."

"The source of its information is reliable as the information came from
workers previously involved in engineering work on the construction of
the Bakun dam. Only those workers who worked on-site knew the problem.
The public has no access to the project site because it is strictly
guarded," Abin said.

Responding to safety concerns, the Sinohydro spokeswoman said extensive
testing had been conducted, and asserted the condition of the dam was in
line with expectations. "The dam has been filling since October 2010.
During all this process no defects have been mentioned. The dam is safe."

Countering claims by some NGOs that the dam was a wasteful white
elephant, the Sinohydro spokeswoman said it was part of the long-term
plan of the Sarawak state government to create more than 20,000
megawatts (MW) of renewable energy.

The Sarawak government's renewable energy plan would provide substantial
employment opportunities and triple Sarawak's gross domestic product by
2020, she said.

"The Bakun Hydroelectric Project is the largest hydropower project in
Malaysia with an installed capacity of 2,400 MW. It will significantly
contribute to meeting the increasing demand of electricity in the
country," said the website of Sarawak Hidro, a wholly owned subsidiary
of Malaysia's Ministry of Finance which is the developer of the dam.

But Abin accused the Malaysian government and the dam builders of
failing to take the safety of the dam into account. "They are more
interested in completing the dam as the project has been delayed for so
long. This is very serious because a slight tremor will cause the dam
structure to break which can endanger human lives downstream and the
entire Rejang River basin."

Grace Mang, China programme co-ordinator of International Rivers, an
international NGO focusing on water, expressed concern over the
environmental impact of the dam as well as its safety. "The size of the
Bakun project has meant there has been a significant impact on the
surrounding communities and the environment. But new information about
the quality of Sinohydro's construction is certainly alarming," she said.

Sarawak Hidro did not respond to questions from the South China Morning
Post.

***

Russia's EuroSibEnergo, Chinese co sign cooperation agreement
http://www.hydroworld.com/index/display/news_display.1439613804.html
June 17, 2011

Russian power company EuroSibEnergo, part of businessman Oleg
Deripaska's En+ Group, and Chinese hydropower company China Yangtze
Power on Friday signed an agreement for cooperation under their joint
venture Yes Energo.

The deal was signed during the St. Petersburg International Economic
Forum.

The agreement defines the companies' priority joint projects to build
power facilities in East Siberia. The list of these projects includes
the construction of the Lenskaya thermal power plant with a capacity of
up to 1,200 megawatts (MW) in the Irkutsk Region town of Ust-Kut; the
project to build the Nizhne-Angarskaya hydropower plant with a capacity
of 600-1,200 MW in the Krasnoyarsk Region; and construction of a
hydropower plant with a capacity of 400-900 MW in the Zabaikalsky Region.

The size of investments in these hydropower projects was not provided.

Created earlier this year, Yes Energo is owned by EuroSibEnergo and the
Chinese company on a parity basis.
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Friday, June 17, 2011

Lessons from China’s dams for Cambodia

Analysis: Lessons from China�s dams
Pnomh Penh Post, Friday, 17 June 2011 15:00
By Peter Bosshard

www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011061749830/National-news/analysis-lessons-from-chinas-dams.html

China counts half of all the world�s large dams within its borders.
During the last 10 years, Chinese companies have also successfully
conquered the global market for hydropower projects. With the Kamchay
Dam and five other projects under construction, Chinese companies are
also the dominant player in Cambodia�s hydropower sector.

Many Chinese dam builders acquired their technology in the giant Three
Gorges Project on the Yangtze River. Companies like the Kamchay Dam�s
Sinohydro frequently refer to the Yangtze dam as proof of their
technical excellence. Like many other foreign leaders, Prime Minister
Hun Sen praised the project when he visited the dam site in 2004. In a
surprise move, the Chinese government has now acknowledged that the
Three Gorges Project has serious social, environmental and geological
problems. What are the lessons from this experience for Cambodia?

With a capacity of 18,200 megawatts, the Three Gorges Dam is the world�s
biggest hydropower project. In spite of its daunting complexity, the
government completed the project ahead of time in 2008.

The Yangtze dam generates 2 percent of China�s electricity and
substitutes at least 30 million tons of coal per year. Yet its social,
environmental, geological and financial costs are staggering. Here is a
brief overview of the main problems:

� Displacement: The Three Gorges Dam has submerged 13 cities, 140 towns
and 1,350 villages, and displaced more than 1.2 million people. Many
resettlers were cheated out of their compensation payments and did not
receive the new jobs or land that the government had promised. While
some of the newly built towns have recovered from the initial shock of
displacement, others are beset by widespread unemployment and
impoverishment.

� Ecological collapse: Damming the Three Gorges caused massive impacts
on the ecosystem of the Yangtze, Asia�s longest river. The reservoir has
turned the once mighty river into a stagnant garbage dump with frequent
toxic algae blooms. Because the barrage stopped fish migration,
commercial fisheries have plummeted, the Yangtze river dolphin has been
extinct, and other species are facing the same fate.

� Erosion: Government officials were prepared for social and
environmental problems, but not for the dam�s massive geological
impacts. The strong fluctuation of the water level in the Three Gorges
reservoir destabilises the slopes of the Yangtze Valley, and triggers
frequent landslides. Erosion affects half the reservoir area, and more
than 300,000 additional people will have to be relocated to stabilise
the reservoir banks.

� Downstream impacts: The Yangtze River carries more than 500 million
tons of silt into the reservoir every year. Most of this is now withheld
from the downstream regions and particularly the Yangtze delta. As a
consequence, up to four square kilometres of coastal wetlands are eroded
every year. The delta is subsiding, and seawater intrudes upriver,
affecting agriculture and drinking water. Because of the lack of
nutrients, coastal fisheries are also suffering.

� Susceptibility to climate change: The Three Gorges Dam illustrates how
the vagaries of climate change create new risks for hydropower projects.
The dam operators planned to fill the Three Gorges reservoir for the
first time in 2009, but were not able to do so due to insufficient
rains. The current year has brought Central China the worst drought in
five decades, which has again sharply reduced the power generation of
the Three Gorges and other dams. Ever more unreliable rainfalls put a
big question mark behind the benefits and the economics of the Three
Gorges Dam.

� Financial cost: The official cost of the Yangtze dam is US$27 billion.
Critics argue that if all hidden costs are included, the project�s real
price tag amounts to $88 billion. It would have been cheaper to generate
electricity and replace coal through other means. While the dam was
under construction, the energy efficiency of China�s economy decreased.
According to the Energy Foundation in the US, it would have been
�cheaper, cleaner and more productive for China to have invested in
energy efficiency� rather than new power plants.

On May 18 the State Council, China�s highest government body, for the
first time acknowledged the dam�s serious problems. �The project is now
greatly benefiting the society in the aspects of flood prevention, power
generation, river transportation and water resource utilisation�, the
government maintained, but it has �caused some urgent problems in terms
of environmental protection, the prevention of geological hazards and
the welfare of the relocated communities.�

The Three Gorges Dam has served as a model for projects in Cambodia and
many other countries. Three Gorges contractors such as Sinohydro and
Gezhouba and other Chinese companies are currently building the Da Dai,
Kamchay, Kirirom III, Lower Stung Russey, Stung Atay and Stung Tatay
dams on Cambodian rivers. Chinese companies have also signed a
memorandum of understanding to develop the Sambor Dam on the Mekong, and
have proposed several projects on the Stung Cheay Areng and Srepok rivers.

What lesson does the Three Gorges Project hold as Cambodia considers its
future hydropower strategy? First and foremost, the Yangtze dam shows
that large dams on major rivers are massive interventions into highly
complex ecosystems. Their impacts can occur thousands of kilometres away
and many years after construction has been completed. It is impossible
to predict and mitigate all social and environmental impacts of such
projects.

The Three Gorges experience demonstrates that damming the mainstream of
major rivers is particularly damaging, in that it will interrupt the
migration of fish and the transport of sediments throughout a river�s
ecosystems. As the World Commission on Dams recommended in its
path-breaking report, Dams and Development, a river�s mainstream should
not be dammed as long as there are other options.

A Strategic Environmental Assessment prepared for the Mekong River
Commission (MRC) predicts that damming the lower Mekong mainstream would
cause the loss of riverine and marine fisheries, reduce the agricultural
productivity in the floodplains of the Tonle Sap and the Mekong Delta,
and erode the delta�s coastline and river channels. All these impacts
have been borne out by the Three Gorges Project.

The MRC was right to recommend that the lower Mekong should not be
dammed in the next 10 years, and the Cambodian government has good
reasons to call for caution regarding the proposed Xayaburi Dam in Laos.
It should be equally cautious as it considers the Sambor Dam in Kratie
Province.

Chinese scientists predicted many of the impacts of the Three Gorges
Dam, yet their voices were silenced in what the government claimed was
the national interest. In multi-billion dollar projects, the national
interest is often taken hostage by political prestige, bureaucratic
power struggles, and the generous kickbacks of a bribery-prone industry.
These vested interests need to be balanced and held accountable by a
transparent and participatory decision-making process

Finally, China spent tens of billions of dollars on the resettlement
program for the Three Gorges Dam. But because the affected people were
excluded from decision-making, the programme often ignored their needs
and desires, and resulted in wide-spread impoverishment and frustration.
The experience of the Yangtze dam demonstrates that affected communities
and other stakeholders should be involved in the decision-making
regarding large infrastructure projects from the beginning.

Peter Bosshard is the Policy Director of International Rivers. He has
monitored the Three Gorges Dam since the 1990s.
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Analysis: Lessons from China's dams [Phnom Penh Post, 17.06.11]



Analysis: Lessons from China's dams
China counts half of all the world’s large dams within its borders. During the last 10 years, Chinese companies have also successfully conquered the global market for hydropower projects. With the Kamchay Dam and five other projects under construction, Chinese companies are also the dominant player in Cambodia’s hydropower sector.

Many Chinese dam builders acquired their technology in the giant Three Gorges Project on the Yangtze River. Companies like the Kamchay Dam’s Sinohydro frequently refer to the Yangtze dam as proof of their technical excellence. Like many other foreign leaders, Prime Minister Hun Sen praised the project when he visited the dam site in 2004. In a surprise move, the Chinese government has now acknowledged that the Three Gorges Project has serious social, environmental and geological problems. What are the lessons from this experience for Cambodia?

With a capacity of 18,200 megawatts, the Three Gorges Dam is the world’s biggest hydropower project. In spite of its daunting complexity, the government completed the project ahead of time in 2008.

The Yangtze dam generates 2 percent of China’s electricity and substitutes at least 30 million tons of coal per year. Yet its social, environmental, geological and financial costs are staggering. Here is a brief overview of the main problems:

• Displacement: The Three Gorges Dam has submerged 13 cities, 140 towns and 1,350 villages, and displaced more than 1.2 million people. Many resettlers were cheated out of their compensation payments and did not receive the new jobs or land that the government had promised. While some of the newly built towns have recovered from the initial shock of displacement, others are beset by widespread unemployment and impoverishment.

• Ecological collapse: Damming the Three Gorges caused massive impacts on the ecosystem of the Yangtze, Asia’s longest river. The reservoir has turned the once mighty river into a stagnant garbage dump with frequent toxic algae blooms. Because the barrage stopped fish migration, commercial fisheries have plummeted, the Yangtze river dolphin has been extinct, and other species are facing the same fate.

• Erosion: Government officials were prepared for social and environmental problems, but not for the dam’s massive geological impacts. The strong fluctuation of the water level in the Three Gorges reservoir destabilises the slopes of the Yangtze Valley, and triggers frequent landslides. Erosion affects half the reservoir area, and more than 300,000 additional people will have to be relocated to stabilise the reservoir banks.

• Downstream impacts: The Yangtze River carries more than 500 million tons of silt into the reservoir every year. Most of this is now withheld from the downstream regions and particularly the Yangtze delta. As a consequence, up to four square kilometres of coastal wetlands are eroded every year. The delta is subsiding, and seawater intrudes upriver, affecting agriculture and drinking water. Because of the lack of nutrients, coastal fisheries are also suffering.

• Susceptibility to climate change: The Three Gorges Dam illustrates how the vagaries of climate change create new risks for hydropower projects. The dam operators planned to fill the Three Gorges reservoir for the first time in 2009, but were not able to do so due to insufficient rains. The current year has brought Central China the worst drought in five decades, which has again sharply reduced the power generation of the Three Gorges and other dams. Ever more unreliable rainfalls put a big question mark behind the benefits and the economics of the Three Gorges Dam.

• Financial cost: The official cost of the Yangtze dam is US$27 billion. Critics argue that if all hidden costs are included, the project’s real price tag amounts to $88 billion. It would have been cheaper to generate electricity and replace coal through other means. While the dam was under construction, the energy efficiency of China’s economy decreased. According to the Energy Foundation in the US, it would have been “cheaper, cleaner and more productive for China to have invested in energy efficiency” rather than new power plants.

On May 18 the State Council, China’s highest government body, for the first time acknowledged the dam’s serious problems. “The project is now greatly benefiting the society in the aspects of flood prevention, power generation, river transportation and water resource utilisation”, the government maintained, but it has “caused some urgent problems in terms of environmental protection, the prevention of geological hazards and the welfare of the relocated communities.”

The Three Gorges Dam has served as a model for projects in Cambodia and many other countries. Three Gorges contractors such as Sinohydro and Gezhouba and other Chinese companies are currently building the Da Dai, Kamchay, Kirirom III, Lower Stung Russey, Stung Atay and Stung Tatay dams on Cambodian rivers. Chinese companies have also signed a memorandum of understanding to develop the Sambor Dam on the Mekong, and have proposed several projects on the Stung Cheay Areng and Srepok rivers.

What lesson does the Three Gorges Project hold as Cambodia considers its future hydropower strategy? First and foremost, the Yangtze dam shows that large dams on major rivers are massive interventions into highly complex ecosystems. Their impacts can occur thousands of kilometres away and many years after construction has been completed. It is impossible to predict and mitigate all social and environmental impacts of such projects.

The Three Gorges experience demonstrates that damming the mainstream of major rivers is particularly damaging, in that it will interrupt the migration of fish and the transport of sediments throughout a river’s ecosystems. As the World Commission on Dams recommended in its path-breaking report, Dams and Development, a river’s mainstream should not be dammed as long as there are other options.

A Strategic Environmental Assessment prepared for the Mekong River Commission (MRC) predicts that damming the lower Mekong mainstream would cause the loss of riverine and marine fisheries, reduce the agricultural productivity in the floodplains of the Tonle Sap and the Mekong Delta, and erode the delta’s coastline and river channels. All these impacts have been borne out by the Three Gorges Project.

The MRC was right to recommend that the lower Mekong should not be dammed in the next 10 years, and the Cambodian government has good reasons to call for caution regarding the proposed Xayaburi Dam in Laos. It should be equally cautious as it considers the Sambor Dam in Kratie Province.

Chinese scientists predicted many of the impacts of the Three Gorges Dam, yet their voices were silenced in what the government claimed was the national interest. In multi-billion dollar projects, the national interest is often taken hostage by political prestige, bureaucratic power struggles, and the generous kickbacks of a bribery-prone industry. These vested interests need to be balanced and held accountable by a transparent and participatory decision-making process

Finally, China spent tens of billions of dollars on the resettlement program for the Three Gorges Dam. But because the affected people were excluded from decision-making, the programme often ignored their needs and desires, and resulted in wide-spread impoverishment and frustration. The experience of the Yangtze dam demonstrates that affected communities and other stakeholders should be involved in the decision-making regarding large infrastructure projects from the beginning.


Peter Bosshard is the Policy Director of International Rivers. He has monitored the Three Gorges Dam since the 1990s.

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011061749830/National-news/analysis-lessons-from-chinas-dams.html