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-- a _kt75 | reprint   More than 400 hydroelectric schemes are planned in the mountain region, which could be a disaster for the environment. The future of the world's most famous mountain range could be endangered by a vast dam-building project, as a risky regional race for water resources takes place in Asia . New academic research shows that India, Nepal, Bhutan and Pakistan are engaged in a huge "water grab" in the Himalayas, as they seek new sources of electricity to power their economies. Taken together, the countries have plans for more than 400 hydro dams which, if built, could together provide more than 160,000MW of electricity – three times more than the UK uses. In addition, China has plans for around 100 dams to generate a similar amount of power from major rivers rising in Tibet. A further 60 or more dams are being planned for the Mekong river which also rises in Tibet and flows south through south-east Asia. (Pre-Release)   Quarterly Notes on S...

-- a _kt75 | reprint People are having to leave their homes, villages are being submerged, and worries are being expressed about damage to the biodiverse Amazon forest. When it is completed in 2015, the Jirau hydroelectric dam will span 8km across the Madeira river and feature more giant turbines than any other dam in the world. Then there are the power lines, draped along 2,250km of forests and fields to carry electricity to Brazil's urban nerve centre, São Paulo. Still, it won't be enough. The dam and the Santo Antonio complex that is being built a few kilometres downstream will provide just 5% of what government energy planners say the country will need in the next 10 years . So Brazil is building many more dams, courting controversy by locating the vast majority in the world's largest and most biodiverse forest. _progress | M replaces _kt75 | mirror. visit: http://progress-m.blogspot.com . ready: 01.07.2015. close ✕ "The investment to build these pl...

-- a _kt75 | reprint People are having to leave their homes, villages are being submerged, and worries are being expressed about damage to the biodiverse Amazon forest. When it is completed in 2015, the Jirau hydroelectric dam will span 8km across the Madeira river and feature more giant turbines than any other dam in the world. Then there are the power lines, draped along 2,250km of forests and fields to carry electricity to Brazil's urban nerve centre, São Paulo. Still, it won't be enough. The dam and the Santo Antonio complex that is being built a few kilometres downstream will provide just 5% of what government energy planners say the country will need in the next 10 years . So Brazil is building many more dams, courting controversy by locating the vast majority in the world's largest and most biodiverse forest. "The investment to build these plants is very high, and they are to be put in a region which is an icon for environmental preservation, the...

-- a _kt75 | reprint Download the Quarterly Notes on Sustainable Water Management - Q04/2013 Submit your Abstract for the next issue of the Quarterly Notes For decades large-scale hydropower developments have been viewed as something of a pariah within the renewable energy sector. Indeed, despite an acknowledged contribution to sustainable energy development — hydropower’s global kWh contribution dwarfs all other renewable technologies — it has largely been excluded from considerations that benefit other forms of renewable power generation and has weathered widespread criticism over projects deemed unsustainable.  In 2012, according to Pakistan’s Board of Investment, the 147-MW run-of-river Patrnid Hydropower Project was set as an Independent Power Producer (IPP) development. Backed by Korea’s K-Water and Star Hydro Power Limited (SHPL), 25 percent of the US $400 million cost of the development on the river Kunhar will come from them, while 75 percent will be financed ...

-- a _kt75 | reprint Download the Quarterly Notes on Sustainable Water Management - Q04/2013 Submit your Abstract for the next issue of the Quarterly Notes There has been a huge increase in Chinese dam projects in South America, which has expanded China's geopolitical clout in the continent but also drawn allegations of poor corporate social responsibility. "China's involvement in hydropower development in Latin America has grown significantly since 2010. It's fair to say that Chinese dam-building companies are targeting the Latin American market," said Grace Mang, China programme director at International Rivers, a green non-governmental organisation in the United States. Before 2010, International Rivers was aware of only two Chinese hydropower projects in Latin America, both in Belize, Mang said. Now, there are 22, of which three are completed, seven are under construction and 12 are on the drawing board. The three completed Chinese dams are in Belize ...

► NEW : see all _kt75 | articles at a glance in the _news database   -- a _kt75 | reprint   Tweet Owing to its strategic geographical location, Turkey is a very important player in the energy security of Europe. Using this opportunity, Turkey has a cherished desire of becoming an energy hub. Turkey is open to let any pipeline through its own territory to achieve this goal. With this aim Turkey not only seeks to ensure its own energy security and receive revenue from pipeline projects as a transit country but also one may assume that such kind of strategy could allow Turkey to open an energy chapter in the European Union (EU) negotiations and accelerate accession to the EU. However, because of some realities such as the competing pipelines supported by Turkey, political instability in the Caspian region, South Caucasus and Middle East, and the importance of the interests of the great powers such as Russia and Iran Turkey should not only believe in its own resource...

-- a _kt75 | reprint     Tweet Over the last two decades, Chinese governments have approved the construction of a cascade of large dams on the stretches of the Mekong River that lie within its borders, prompting disquiet amongst downstream riparian states . Those states — Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam — are now set to wage their own battle for control of precious water resources, with China looming large through its role as a willing creditor. Despite hydropower plans for the Lower Mekong dating back to the 1950s, the river still flows freely south of the Chinese border. That may not be the case for much longer. The governments of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam have proposed to build eleven dams on the Lower Mekong — nine in Laos and two in Cambodia. Much of the electricity generated would ultimately be consumed in Thailand and Vietnam through contract agreements between the four states. The first of these proposed dams is already under construction;...

-- a _kt75 | reprint compilation   Tweet Reprint: Large dams have long been promoted as providing "cheap" hydropower and water supply. Today, we know better. The  costs and poor performance of large dams were in the past largely concealed by the public agencies that built and operated the projects. Dams consistently cost more and take longer to build than projected. In general, the larger a hydro project is, the larger its construction cost overrun in percentage terms. The true risks and costs of dams are being forced into the open due to increasing public scrutiny and attempts to attract private investors to existing and new projects. The World Commission on Dams found that on average, large dams have been at best only marginally economically viable. The average cost overrun of dams is 56%. This means that when a dam is predicted to cost $1 billion, it ends up costing $1.56 billion. In too many cases, the burden of uneconomic dams is shouldered by a nation...

-- a _kt75 | reprint   Tweet Since long before the Pyramids towered above the rich soil of this riverside town, Egyptians have given thanks to the muddy waters of the Nile. "Plants, animals, humans," said Ibrahim Abdel Aziz, a 45-year-old farmer, "we all come from this river." Trace the Nile about 2,250km upstream and there's a rising colossus that threatens to upset a millennia-old balance. There, in the Ethiopian highlands, one of the world's largest dams is taking shape. For Ethiopia , the dam promises abundant energy and an escape from a seemingly permanent spot in the lowest rungs of the world's human development index. But for Egypt , the consequences could be dire: a nationwide water shortage in as little as two years that causes crop failures, power cuts and instability resonating far beyond even the tumult of the recent past. For a country facing daily domestic crises in the aftermath of its 2011 revolution, the dam is a foreign th...

-- a _kt75 | reprint     Tweet ■ Case Ethiopia - Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam: Ethiopia has refused to halt work on a controversial giant dam across the river Nile that Egypt fears will severely curb its water supply. The refusal came after the Egyptian president, Mohamed Morsi, promised to "defend each drop of Nile water with our blood" and other senior Egyptian politicians called for the dam's destruction. A spokesman for the Ethiopian prime minister said on Tuesday that Morsi's speech was irresponsible and that the project would proceed as planned. "Nothing is going to stop the Renaissance Dam. Not a threat will stop it," Getachew Reda said via telephone. "None of the concerns the Egyptian politicians are making are supported by science. Some of them border on what I would characterise as fortune-telling." Ethiopia hopes its Grand Renaissance dam – which will cost more than $4.3bn (£2.8bn) – will form Africa's largest hydropower p...

-- a _kt75 | reprint    Follow @_kt75 Key Points ■ Since 1975, Turkey’s extensive dam and hydropower construction has reportedly reduced water flows into Iraq and Syria by approximately 80 per cent and 40 per cent respectively. ■ Approximately 90 per cent of the water flow in the Euphrates and 50 per cent in the Tigris originate in Turkey. ■ Low flow rates in Iraq have allowed salt water to infiltrate nearly 150km inland from the Persian Gulf. ■ Lack of international agreement is hampering progress on a deal between Turkey, Iraq and Syria. ■ Turkey has accused Iraq of poor water management practices, which, it says, are exacerbating Iraq’s water crisis. Tensions between these countries remain high because of the issue of water management. Summary The Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, originating in Turkey and cutting through both Syria and Iraq, have experienced drastic reductions in water flows in recent years due, primarily, to Turkish hydro-engineering and regional drou...

-- a _kt75 | reprint    Iran, pummeled by years of international sanctions, has had two energy goals. First, to preserve its dwindling international hydrocarbon market share, increasingly battered by years of U.S. and UN sanctions designed to slow down and halt its civilian nuclear energy program, which Washington and Tel Aviv have long insisted masks a covert program to develop a nuclear weapons program. The second, much less reported in the foreign press, is to diversify its indigenous energy infrastructure, so as to preserve its hydrocarbon assets for the long term. In pursuit of the latter goal, Iran is ramping up its hydroelectric program. Iran currently has 23 operational hydropower plants, with a combined electricity generating capacity of 8.2 gigawatts, 14 percent of the nation’s total generating capacity of 58.5 gigawatts. A further 4.8 gigawatts of capacity is under construction, with 12.7 gigawatts of hydro capacity is either undergoing feasibility stud...