Hydro electricity is one of the most common renewable energy sources after solar energy that is used worldwide. But in order to generate the electricity for hydro power plant, one essential thing is—water. However, the people of Kenya are suffering a totally opposite situation. As drought continues to ravage in different sections of Kenya, the…

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Hydro-power project initiated in Upper Dir

A hydro-power house with capability to produce 600KW has been installed by district Nazim Upper Dir, Sahibzada Fasihullah over Usheri River in Almas area of Upper Dir.

The power generation project would be built in association of European Union and Sarhad Rural Support Programme (SRSP.

Manufacture of power house would be completed in a period of eight months at the assessed cost of Rs.83 million which would provide electricity to 1200 households.

Local residents praised the project and said it would help reduce power outage in the area.

HYDROPOWER POLLUTION:  Greenhouse gases and climate change

Contrary to popular belief, hydroelectric dams produce significant amounts of carbon dioxide and methane, and in some cases produce more of these greenhouse gases than power plants running on fossil fuels, particularly in tropical areas.

In Brazil, for example, the greenhouse emissions from the Curuá-Una dam in the Amazonian state of Pará have been significantly more than what would have been produced by generating the same amount of electricity from oil.

According to the New Scientist, this greenhouse effect results from the release of large amounts of carbon tied up in trees and other plants, when vegetation rots after flooding of a reservoir. Plant matter settling on the reservoir’s bottom decomposes without oxygen, resulting in a build-up of dissolved methane, subsequently released into the atmosphere by turbines.

In effect, man-made reservoirs convert carbon dioxide in the atmosphere into methane. This is significant because methane’s effect on global warming is 21 times stronger than carbon dioxide’s.

In the next round of IPCC discussions in 2006, the proposed National Greenhouse Gas Inventory Programme, which calculates each country’s carbon budget, will include emissions from artificially flooded regions. 

With the proposed IPCC guidelines, tropical countries that rely heavily on hydroelectricity, such as Brazil, could see their national greenhouse emissions inventories increased by as much as 7% (see map). Colder countries are less affected, because cold conditions will be less favourable for producing greenhouse gases.

PMB Promises Speedy Completion Of Hydro-power Projects

President Muhammadu Buhari has reiterated commitment to the rapid improvement of power supply across Nigeria.

Buhari, who spoke at an audience with officials of CGGC, the Chinese Construction Company working on the Mambilla Power project, regretted that power generation in Nigeria had failed to keep pace with national needs over the years.

He assured that his administration would ensure that the…

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Hydro-power plants partly blamed for deadly India floods

NEW DELHI, April 30:

Hydropower projects in northern India were partly to blame for devastating floods last year that killed thousands, a government report has concluded, in a warning to other Himalayan nations investing in the alternative energy source.

Floods and landslides caused by early monsoon rains tore through the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand last June leaving more than 5,500 people dead or missing, and destroying villages and towns.

The world’s second most populous country has turned to hydropower projects in the Himalayas for electricity as it seeks to curb its reliance on coal-fed plants as well as reducing its crippling power shortages.

Pakistan, China, Bhutan and Nepal are also eyeing expansion of hydropower in the Himalayan range to varying degrees, often in ecologically fragile areas.

In a report commissioned by the Indian government, a panel of experts said some of the more than 30 hydropower projects had caused a build up of sediment in Uttarakhand’s rivers, including soil dug up during construction and dumped on the banks.

When record-high rainfall hit the region, rivers burst their banks, sending tonnes of water as well as the sediment downstream, exacerbating the flooding that washed away roads, bridges and whole buildings.

“The damage was due to a combination of the quantity of flood water and the sediment loads carried by the rivers,” the report obtained on Tuesday said.

“Muck (sediment) management is a crucial issue. Current practices need to be reviewed and technically sound and ecologically sustainable ways of muck management in Uttarakhand have to be proposed to protect the people and the terrain from a June 2013 type of situation.”

The report also said that although politicians considered the production and sale of hydropower as “essential” for revenue, employment and economic growth, the ecologically fragile region must be better protected.

It said 23 out of 24 proposed projects that it studied in the region should not be allowed to continue if they were being built close to protected or vulnerable areas.

The report, which was handed to the government and the Supreme Court this month, called for a single government department to manage conservation issues in the Himalayas.

“It is important that the matter of conservation of Himalaya be addressed with utmost sincerity by a designated department/ ministry in the central government,” the report said.

It also recommended studies be conducted across the region to better understand the impact of multiple plants, the effects of deforestation, tunnelling, blasting and reservoirs on the environment.