Hydraulic or Hydropower

Operation challenges for fast-growing China's hydropower systems and respondence to energy saving and emission reduction

by K.W. Chau

Chuntian Cheng, Xinyu Wu, and Kwok-wing Chau, Jianjian Shen, Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews 16 (5): 2386-2393 2012

During the past two decades, in particular the past decade, there has been a rapid rate of development of hydropower... more During the past two decades, in particular the past decade, there has been a rapid rate of development of hydropower in China. It is foreseeable that the same rate of development will be maintained in the next decade. The total installed generation capacity of hydropower in China has now surpassed 200GW and ranks first in the world. The unprecedented rate of expansion, development scale, emergence of large number of hydro plants with high head and huge capacity, and electric power transmission have led to significant changes in management and operation of large-scale hydropower systems which have become one of significant factors in constraining the security and economic operation of power grid in China. This article gives an overview of the China’s hydropower, analyzes the new challenges that it faces, highlights the key scientific and technological issues that need to be solved, and pinpoints that the solution of these problems will be the key to the realization of energy saving and emission reduction by China in 2020.

Institutional Condition of Contested Hydropower: The Theun Hinboun - International Rivers Collaboration (Whitington)

by Jerome Whitington

(2012) Forum on Development Studies 39:2 231-256

Final version available through below link

This article describes an attempt to collaborate by a major hydropower firm in Laos with an activist NGO that had... more This article describes an attempt to collaborate by a major hydropower firm in Laos with an activist NGO that had forced the company to deal with the environmental problems it had caused. The collaboration demonstrates activists’ destructuring effects on hydropower development institutions over the past three decades through a case study that can be examined in detail. Against the threat of greenwashing or other forms of sustainability communication, the attempt to forge a way to neutrally evaluate environmental claims both was doomed to fail and simply replicated, rather than resolved, the institutional conditions of contested hydropower. I argue that activists have denaturalized expert knowledge through systematic denial of authoritative expertise, while in turn creating the condition for sustainability enclaves that can take root wherever contestation makes its mark. This view comes from attention paid to risk management and its close relation to media, including durable environmental relations that function as ‘new media’ crucial for transnational activist networks.

Design options for self-cleansing storm sewers

by Aminuddin Ab Ghani

Nalluri, C. and Ab. Ghani, A. (1996). Design Options For Self-Cleansing Storm Sewers.Journal of Water Science and Technology, IWA, Vol. 33, No. 9, pp. 215-220. ISSN 0273-1223

A list of available codes of practice for self-cleansing sewers is presented and a review of appraisals of minimum... more A list of available codes of practice for self-cleansing sewers is presented and a review of appraisals of minimum velocity criterion is summarised. Comparisons of newly developed "minimum velocity" criteria and "minimum shear stress" criterion are presented. Some design charts are also given. These charts are applicable to non-cohesive sediments (typically storm sewers). It appears that sediment size and concentration need to be taken into account, and that a limited depth of sediment bed is recommended for large pipes (diameters > 1000 mm) to maximise their transport capacity.

China's Three Gorges Dam

by Philip Fearnside

Comments by Philip M. Fearnside.18 Oct.1999. [on World Commission on Dams Thematic Review II.2 on greenhouse gas emissions from hydroelectric dams].

by Philip Fearnside

Fearnside, P.M. 2000. Comments by Philip M. Fearnside.18 Oct.1999. [on World Commission on Dams Thematic Review II.2 on greenhouse gas emissions from hydroelectric dams]. World Commission on Dams, Capetown, South Africa. pp. 85-88. (www.dams.org/docs/kbase/thematic/ drafts/tr22_part2_finaldraft.pdf)

Hydropower and the Green Economy in Laos: Sustainable Developments?

by Mattijs Smits

Book chapter in Hezri, A., Hofmeister, W., 2012, 'Toward a Green Economy: In Search of Sustainable Energy Policies for the Future'. Singapore: Konrad Adenauer Stiftung.

This paper discusses the surge of export-oriented large hydropower projects in Laos in the context of the green... more This paper discusses the surge of export-oriented large hydropower projects in Laos in the context of the green economy. It starts off with an overview of rural electrification in Laos and figures about the hydropower boom. While there were 85 hydropower projects in some stage of development in 2011, around 30% of the Lao population still does not have access to electricity. The paper then discusses the stakeholders involved in the hydropower sector, which shows that the almost all developers, financiers, and consultancy companies are foreign, as well as the designated markets for the electricity produced. Finally, the benefits, costs, and equity implications of large hydropower projects in Laos are discussed. While the economic benefits are generally large, the social and environmental costs are also large, as well as unpredictable in the long run and disproportionally affecting people in rural areas. The paper concludes that hydropower in Laos in its current form is not an example of a ‘green economy’ activity as long as it does not address the inherent shortcomings of a ‘green’ neoliberal economic approach to energy development. Furthermore, there are many forms of renewable energy possible in Laos that would better fit the label ‘green economy’ and could lead to more sustainable developments.

OPTIMISATION OF THE PERGAU HYDROELECTRIC PROJECT USING WASP-III

by Zainal Abidin Husin

Progressive contextualisation of energy practices and trajectories: a case study in Thailand

by Mattijs Smits

Published in Rural Society, Volume 20 Issue 3 - 2011.
Special issue on Energy and rurality: Socio-historical perspectives on changing production and consumption

Dwindling amounts of fossil fuels, climate change, environmental impacts of energy production and consumption and... more Dwindling amounts of fossil fuels, climate change, environmental impacts of energy production and consumption and other energy-related issues play an increasingly important role in shaping the human and physical landscape of modernisation and development. More than a mere technical and economic challenge, these issues ask for a multidisciplinary approach that can connect energy production and energy consumption practices on different scales. This paper is an attempt to develop an approach to study energy transitions, based on the political ecology and energy practices literatures. The paper starts off from an empirical case study of a rural village Mae Kampong in Thailand. Rather than taking a high level approach, the starting points are the individual village history and its local energy practices. This village has moved stepwise from no access to electricity at all, to having its own micro-hydropower generators, and finally to a dual system of both hydropower and electricity from the national grid. By progressively contextualising these changes, a link can be made between the local energy trajectory and the shift to modern energy practices and the closing rural-urban divide; the marginalisation of micro-hydropower in Thailand; and debates about centralised versus decentralised forms of electricity production worldwide. This paper concludes that there is a need for more study on changing energy practices and politics on different scales. Furthermore, it highlights the role of the social sciences to develop novel methodologies to understand the complexities of the transition towards more sustainable energy systems.

A fresh look at energy debates in Southeast Asia: Contextualising the energy trajectory of Mae Kampong, Thailand

by Mattijs Smits

Presented at SEAGA 2010:: “Understanding the changing space, place and cultures of Asia”, Hanoi, Vietnam, 23-26 November 2010

Dwindling amounts of fossil fuels, climate change, environmental impacts of energy production and consumption, and... more Dwindling amounts of fossil fuels, climate change, environmental impacts of energy production and consumption, and other energy-related issues play an increasingly important role in shaping the human and physical landscape of modernisation and development in Southeast Asia. More than a mere technical and economic challenge, these issues ask for a multidisciplinary approach that can connect energy production as well as energy consumption practices. This paper is an attempt to start building such an approach to study the energy transitions in Southeast Asia. The paper starts off from an atypical empirical case study in Thailand, Mae Kampong. This village has moved stepwise from no access to electricity at all, to its on micro-hydropower generator, and finally to a dual system of hydropower and electricity from the grid. By progressively contextualising these changes, a connection can be made with the marginalisation of micro-hydropower in Thailand, centralised versus decentralised electricity production, and converging conventions of modern energy practices. This approach shows that energy transitions cannot be understood as purely local or national processes but are in fact assemblages connected in time and space.