GLOBAL HYDROPOWER & HYDRODAMS

Compiled September 05, 2008

Michael Totten, mtotten@conservation.org

Postel et al.1 estimated that by the early 1990s withdrawals from rivers, streams, and aquifers combined with
instream flow requirements already totaled 6,780 cubic kilometers2 per year and that these uses accounted for
54% of total global accessible runoff.

Two-thirds of the freshwater flowing to the oceans is already controlled by dams, and impound about 14 per
cent of all global water run-off. No major river in the world is without existing or planned hydroelectric
dams. Between 40 and 80 million people had been displaced by dams in the previous fifty years, according to
the World Commission on Dams. Yet,

• 1 billion people are without safe water

• 2.4 billion lack adequate sanitation (more people than lived on the planet in 1940)
• 3 billion discharge waste with no or inadequate treatment
• 4 billion yet to be born will impose significant water demands in decades to come
These are not (yet) intractable problems; in fact, there are plausible, ecologically sustainable, cost-effective
technical solutions readily available. One of the biggest impediments, however, is corruption and lack of
public accountability.

Transparency International’s Global Corruption Report 2008 finds corruption is a cause and catalyst for the
water crisis afflicting more than 1 billion people who live with inadequate access to safe drinking water.
Hydrodams proposed over the next two decades will exceed $2 trillion in construction costs These large
numbers create multiple opportunities for bribery, fraud and other forms of corrupt behaviour. Civil works
contracts are typically the largest budget line, accounting on average for 60 per cent or more of total project
costs, making dam construction a primary target for corruption.3

Regulatory transparency and strong enforcement are fundamental to achieving a portfolio of preferred
options that ensure human health and well-being, economic prosperity, and the health and integrity of blue
and green freshwater ecosystems, especially the ones that are key biodiversity areas.

Projections of water use and actual global water withdrawals

Caveat: The water projections in the chart below do not take into account the effects of climate
change on both water demands and water supply that have become of concern in recent years.

1
Postel SL, Daily GC, Ehrlich PR. 1996. Human appropriation of renewable fresh water. Science 271:785–88
2
One cubic kilometer (km3) = 1 trillion liters or 1 billion metric tons.
3
Transparency International, Global Corruption Report 2008 – Corruption in the Water Sector, 2008,
http://www.waterintegritynetwork.net/page/430/.
 Projections of water use and actual global water withdrawals, as compiled from various projections of global water withdrawals made since
the 1960s, together with an estimate of actual global water withdrawals. Note that projections made before 1980 forecast very substantial
increases in water use; more recent forecasts have begun to incorporate possible improvements in water productivity to reflect recent
historical experience. Source: Interpretively modified (i.e., efficiency overlay onto basic graph) from Peter Gleick, Global Freshwater
Resources: Soft-Path Solutions for the 21st Century, State of the Planet, Nov-Dec 2003, Scientific American.

Source: Peter Gleick, Water Use, Annual Review of Energy and Environment Resources, 2003. 28:275–314.

"The most cited estimate of the cost of meeting future infrastructure needs for water is $180 billion per year
to 2025 for water supply, sanitation, wastewater treatment, agriculture, and environmental protection—a
daunting figure, given current levels of spending on water [Costs for major hydropower dams or large-scale
water transfers are not included in this already large number. An estimated $40 billion per year are spent
on new dams.]. This figure is based on the assumption that future global demand for water and water-related
services will reach the level of industrialized nations and that centralized and expensive water supply and
treatment infrastructure will have to provide it. If we focus on meeting basic human needs for water for all
with appropriate-scale technology, the cost instead could be in the range of $10 billion to $25 billion per year
for the next two decades—a far more achievable level of investment." Peter Gleick

Source: Peter Gleick, Global Freshwater Resources: Soft-Path Solutions for the 21st Century, State of the Planet, Nov-Dec 2003,
Scientific American, citing W. Cosgrove, F. Rijsberman, A Water Secure World: Report of the World Commission for Water in the
21st Century. Chapter 4: Framework for Action, World Water Council, London, 2000,
www.worldwatercouncil.org/Vision/Documents/CommissionReport.pdf.

2
Agriculture Consumption
Most observers put total consumptive use of water worldwide for irrigated agriculture at nearly 85% of total
human consumptive use. Obviously this water is vital for the production of food (as well as consumed in
growing fiber, animal feed, and increasing, fuels). In 2000, around 270 million hectares of land (equal to
27% of USA) were irrigated worldwide, which is nearly 1/5th of total cropland. Around 40% of all
agricultural production comes from these irrigated areas.

As a result, evaluations of water use must pay particular attention to this sector. This will remain critical for
long-term planning purposes given the projected adverse impacts that climate extremes will have on
agricultural productivity and watershed systems. A recent assessment of the impact of a few degrees Celsius
increase in global average temperature, coupled with declining precipitation on global agriculture, indicates
crop losses could be as high as 28% for Africa, 24% for Latin America, 30% to 40% for India, and 21% for
all developing countries (Cline, 2007). Even industrialized nations like the United States and Australia will
suffer losses, including 30% to 35% in the southeast and southwestern plains of the United States.

Source: William Cline, Global Warming and World Agriculture, 2007, Peterson Institute

Powerplant Use
A substantial fraction of total water withdrawals in some industrialized nations is used for the production of
energy, either directly in hydroelectric plants or indirectly for power plant cooling. Most of this water is not
consumed, but discharged. In the United States, nearly half of total water withdrawals went to power plant
cooling. In Europe, one-third went for these purposes.

Installed Hydropower

In 2007, there was 770,000 MW of installed hydropower, which generated 16% of the world’s electricity, or
3,190 TeraWatt-hours, TWh, out of 19,895 TWh.4 Hydropower provides at least a half of the electric supply

4
BP, BP Statistical Review of World Energy, 2008, http://www.bp.com/productlanding.do?categoryId=6929&contentId=7044622.

3
in more than sixty countries.5 The theoretical potential of worldwide hydropower capacity is 2.8 million
MW, about four times greater than what already has been exploited. Yet, the actual amount of electricity that
will ever be generated by hydropower will be much lower than the theoretical potential, due to environmental
concerns, economic constraints, and competitive alternatives. Nearly half (47%) of the world’s 2007
hydropower was generated in four countries (China 15.4%, Brazil 11.9%, Canada 11.7%, and USA 8%).

Regionally, in 2007, Asia and the Pacific accounted for 27.3% of the world’s hydro generation (873 TWh per
year), followed by Central and South America (689 TWh), North America (658 TWh), the European Union
25 (348 TWh) [but when combining all of EU and Eurasia this increases to 26.6% or 849 TWh). The least
developed hydro region is Africa, which totaled 3% (100 TWh).

Nationally, China (424 TWh) is the largest producer of hydropower in the world, having surpassed Brazil
(378 TWh), Canada (375 TWh) and the USA (256 TWh). Western Europe and the USA have (over)-
developed most of their available hydro sites, and the overwhelming supply of new hydro expansion exists in
the wilderness habitats biologically rich ecosystems of developing countries. The average exploitation level
of hydropower in developed countries is above 60% -- 82% in the USA, 84% in Japan and 65% in Canada.

BRAZIL hydropower resources are second only to China. Its installed hydropower capacity is currently
64,000 MW. The capacity under construction or planning is more than 25,000 MW. The 3rd largest hydro
plant in the world (after 3 Gorges Dam and Itaipu) is under construction on the Xingu River in the state of
Pará (the 11,200 MW Belo Monte hydrodam). Hydropower capacity under construction or planning in other
South American countries amounts to 9,700 MW, particularly Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Guyana,
Peru, and Venezuela. Also, 4,400 MW of hydropower capacity is under construction or planning in
MesoAmerican countries.

Brazil is also expanding a flood of small hydrodams, which pose serious ecological problems. The combined
impacts of numerous small hydroelectric dams in one river basin can be at least as harmful as one large dam.
At least six small dams are concentrated on the rivers in northeast Mato Grosso, located around the Xingú
Indigenous Park.6

CHINA has the largest hydropower resources in the world, with 115,000 MW installed as of 2008. China's
hydro-engineers hail this coming decade as the "golden age of hydro-damming," and the nation plans on
expanding its hydropower capacity to 300,000 MW by 2020 – the equivalent of constructing a 3 Gorges Dam
every 16 months! Southwest China is richest in hydropower resources, with nearly 70% of China's total
amount of available hydropower resource for exploitation concentrated in this region. Currently, less than
10% is developed and used.7

China also is aggressively financing and constructing hydrodams throughout the developing world, typically
in combination with other major production processes (e.g., irrigation for agribusiness and plantation
operations, electricity for aluminum, iron, and other metal processing), as well as for exporting into multi-
nation electricity grid systems.

While these two nations represent a sizable part of proposed future hydrodam construction, most of the key
biodiversity areas are threatened with disruptive hydrodam schemes (See appendix for an uncompleted list of
proposed large hydrodams by country).

5
World Commission on Dams, Dams and Development: A New Framework for Decision-making, 2000,
www.dams.org/.
6
Mario Osava, Small Hydroelectric Dams Not So Green, August 11, 2008, Inter Press Service News Agency (IPS).
7
2007-2008 Report on the Survey & Forecast of Investment Prospect of Hydropower Industry in China, June 2007.

4
 The most important point to keep in mind about hydrodams is that:

An estimated half of proposed global dams are not cost-effective

against a large and expanding pool of water & energy efficiency options.

Climate Change Threat from many Hydrodams

Recent field measurements of hydrodam greenhouse gas emissions conducted in several dozen catchment
basins indicate that many dams would worsen climate change, and clearly are not a climate-friendly
mitigation option. Hydrodams are responsible for an estimated 8% of total global GHG emissions, and this
could double given the amount of hydrodam construction being planned this century. The highest emitting
dams occur in tropical regions due to the immense land areas flooded for storage reservoirs, which results in
the decaying underwater vegetation to release methane. For example, the Tucuruí hydrodam in Brazil emits
four times more GHGs than a fossil-fired power plant, the Curuá-Una hydrodam nearly 8 times more, and the
Balbina hydrodam nearly 60 times more!8

These dams also have significantly larger land footprints than alternative electricity options like wind farms,
solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, and end-use efficiency. Compared to a typical wind farm that requires
1/10th of a km2 per Megawatt (0.1 km2/MW), Tucuruí required 57 times more land area (5.7 km2/MW),
Curuá-Una required 18 times more (1.8 km2/MW), and Balbina required 126 times more land area (12.6
km2/MW).9 Solar PV systems require even less land than wind, and for many countries can be sited within
existing urban landscapes, hence requiring no new land conversion.

Eliminating, Displacing and Deferring Proposed Hydrodams

Some facts:
• In Latin America, water distribution losses have been estimated at some 9 trillion m3 per year, or 1/3rd of the
total water collected and treated. Losses could be cut by 3/4th if international water delivery standards were
achieved, saving money & foregoing new dams.10

• Conventional irrigation can waste 60% of the shipped water by the time it reaches the point of use. Such waste
is driven by misplaced subsidies and artificially low water prices, often unconnected to the amount of water
used.

• Drip irrigation systems for water-intensive crops can accrue water savings of up to 80% compared to
conventional flood irrigation systems, but these techniques are out of reach for most small farmers. Currently
drip irrigation accounts for only 1% of the world’s irrigated area.

• Most utility regulation worldwide overseeing the electricity, natural gas and water service sectors still preclude
end-use efficiency opportunities from fully, fairly and equitably competing in the utility resource planning
process as a means of cost-effectively delivering customer utility services.

8
St. Louis VL, Kelly CA, Duchemin E, et al. 2000. Reservoir surfaces as sources of greenhouse gases to the
atmosphere: a global estimate. BioScience 50: 766–75. Fearnside PM. 2002. Greenhouse gas emissions from a
hydroelectric reservoir (Brazil’s Tucuruí Dam) and the energy policy implication. Water Air Soil Poll 133: 69–96.
9
Patrick McCully, Tropical Hydropower is a Significant Source of Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Interim response to the
International Hydropower Association, International Rivers Network, June 2004, www.irn.org/.
10
Savedoff and Spiller, Agua perdida (Spilled Water), 1999, Inter-American Development Bank.

5
 • End-use efficiency options for delivering utility services (electricity, natural gas or water) could provide half or
more of the projected growth demand worldwide at lower cost than expanding new power plants and supply
systems.

• In China, hydropower plants reportedly generate electricity at 3.8 cents per kWh (excluding transmission and
distribution costs, which can double the delivered cost to the end-user); in sharp contrast, replacing inefficient
factory electric motors, pumps, compressors and fans "deliver" electricity at just 1 cent per kWh. Sixty percent
of China's electricity is consumed in operating these electric motors and industrial drive systems.

• Wind farms located in good wind sites now generate electricity at 5 cents per kWh (3.5 cents/kWh with tax
credit).

• Onsite generation of combined heat and power (CHP) at factories and buildings – also called cogeneration or
trigeneration – ranges from minus several cents per delivered kWh (i.e., reducing the consumer's energy bills)
to 4 cents/kWh.

• Wind, solar PV and end-use efficiency consume 1/100th the amount of water per kWh of delivered electricity
service compared to any other electricity options (e.g., hydro, coal, nuclear, natural gas). For example, the
U.S. electricity goal of 20% wind power by 2030 will prevent the use of 16 billion cubic meters of water by the
utility sector.

• State-of-the-art water filtration recycling systems using reverse osmosis and permeable membranes and
powered by cogeneration systems, like the Oerlikon plant in Israel, produce clean water at 50 cents per cubic
meter. This is cost-effective in many urban areas where water prices range between 50¢ and $2.25 per m3. In
many developing countries water is still heavily subsidized, but cities like Beijing are moving to full-cost
marginal pricing, with rates now exceeding 70¢/m3.

• Application of mature drilling expertise from the oil and gas industries to "megawatersheds" located in deep
bedrock formations located in many parts of the world is now being commercialized at a cost of 50 to 75 cents
per m3. These are water resources totally separate and disconnected from conventional subsurface aquifers
routinely tapped for water.11

This short list illustrates the broad range of opportunities that exist for delivering significant percentages of
utility services – electricity, water and natural gas – at comparable or competitive costs of conventional large
supply options like hydrodams and thermal power plants (fossil, nuclear). What are the best policy practices
that could actually make these cost-effective and lower-risk options the preferred investments?

Essential Major Policy & Regulatory Innovations

1. Adoption of decoupling regulations by all electric, gas, and water utility regulators

Utility Decoupling is vital for enabling electric, water and natural gas efficiency to compete against
unnecessarily more expensive, polluting, and some more risky, large-scale power plant construction. In the
USA a dozen states have adopted electric decoupling regulations, two dozen states have adopted gas utility
decoupling regulations, and California is pioneering water utility decoupling.

Three provinces in China - Jiangsu, Shanghai and Beijing - are in the process of adopting decoupling
regulations so that aggregated efficiency savings opportunities, referred to as "efficiency power plants"

11
Robert Bisson and Jay Lehr, Modern Groundwater Exploration: Discovering New Water Resources in Consolidated
Rocks Using Innovative Hydrogeologic Concepts, Exploration, Drilling, Aquifer Testing and Management Methods,
Wiley-Science, 2004. See also the two dozen publications and presentations at EarthWater Global,
http://www.earthwaterglobal.com/publications.htm.

6
(EPPs), can compete in the Integrated Resource Planning (IRP) process along with coal, nuclear and large
hydroelectric plants.

Most utility regulation worldwide overseeing the electricity, natural gas and water service sectors still
preclude end-use efficiency opportunities from fully, fairly and equitably competing in the utility resource
planning process as a means of cost-effectively delivering customer utility services. Historically and
conventionally, utility earnings have been based on revenue sales. This undermines all incentive for a utility
to help any customer save energy because the lost revenues reduce earnings.

Since the 1980s California has established itself as the world leader in continually fine-tuning the utility
regulatory process for aligning the financial interests of the utility with those of the customer in capturing
end-use energy and water efficiency opportunities. Extensive research found that 20 percent of the State’s
total electricity and one-third of total natural gas use were consumed in pumping, distributing, heating and
disposing of the State’s water12. The assessments also find that the end use of water (e.g., energy intensive
uses like clothes washing and showers) consumes more energy that any other part of the urban water
conveyance and treatment cycle. Employing demand-side management programs to increase water
efficiency can reduce significant amounts of water, energy and air pollution, while accruing substantial
monetary savings.13

California addressed this problem by decoupling utility earnings from revenues, and rewarding utility
performance in promoting customer efficiency savings by allowing the utility to recoup earnings on lost sales
(i.e., kWh, therms of gas, liters of water). This powerful paradigm shift refocuses the utility's attention on
their earnings remaining robust even as revenues decline, and customers watching utility bills decline even as
rates increase to recoup utility lost earnings.14

Combined with California's world leadership in setting continuously stronger appliance and building
efficiency standards has positioned the state in saving each household $1000 per year on electric utility bills,
and cost-free reductions in CO2 emissions 50 percent below the national average.15 If all states had followed
California's example today the U.S. utility bill would be several hundred billion dollars less, and the nation
would have surpassed the CO2 reduction targets of the Kyoto Treaty.

The fundamental strength of utility regulation including "efficiency services" in the Integrated Resource
Planning (IRP) process is the transparency it brings to decisions now typically made without full comparison
of costs, risks and benefits against the entire portfolio of options. For example, 60 percent of the electricity
generated in developing countries is consumed by industrial drive systems — electric motors, pumps,
compressors and fans. Utility incentive programs empirically show efficiency upgrades to existing systems

12
Wilkinson, Robert. (2000). Methodology for Analysis of the Energy Intensity of California’s Water Systems, and an
Asssessment of Multiple Potential Benefits Through Integrated Water-Energy Efficiency Measures. Lawrence
Berkeley National Laboratory. California Institute for Energy Efficiency. January 2000. [On-line]. Available:
www.lbl.gov/.
13
Cohen, Ronnie; Wolff, Gary; & Barry Nelson. (2004). Energy Down the Drain, The Hidden Costs of California’s
Water Supply, NRDC and Pacific Institute. August 2004. [On-line]. Available: www.nrdc.org/. Gleick, Peter H.;
Cooley, Heather; & David Groves. (2005). California Water 2030: An Efficient Future. Pacific Institute. September
2005. [On-line]. Available: www.pacinst.org/.
14
CEC. (2005). 2005 Integrated Energy Policy Report (IEPR), Chapter 8 Integrating Water and Energy Strategies.
November 2005. CEC-100-2005-007-CMF, www.energy.ca.gov/2005publications/CEC-100-2005-007/CEC-100-
2005-007-CMF.PDF.
15
Rosenfeld, Arthur. (2006). Near-term Solutions for Mitigation of Carbon Dioxide, TechTalk, Google corporation,
August 13, www.energy.ca.gov/commission/commissioners/rosenfeld.html.

7
achieve 30 percent savings at five times less cost per kWh than building new generation to power the
inefficient ones. Fifty percent savings are achievable in new motor systems.

Worldwide, an initiative for transforming the motor market would save 2 trillion kWh per year, equal to one-
fourth of all coal plants to be built through 2030, while reducing global energy bills by $240 billion per
decade. Comparably large savings in buildings offer similar opportunities to eliminate the need for many
proposed hydropower projects.

2. Adoption of public policies and incentives that align with regulatory decoupling

Looking out just 15-20 years, international needs for electricity and natural gas will be determined primarily
by buildings and devices that do not yet exist. Those unbuilt structures and machines are likely to account
for about half the world’s global warming pollution. The fastest, cheapest and cleanest way to minimize
those emissions is to use flexible performance-based standards to ensure that the maximum possible cost-
effective energy efficiency is built in upfront. Standards for buildings, motors, appliances, consumer
equipment, and vehicles, have a multi-decade proven record as one of the most cost-effective ways to deliver
electricity, gas, water and mobility services while reducing energy consumption, preventing multiple
pollutants (CO2, acid rain, urban smog), and saving money.

Economists project a 10 to 20-fold growth in the global economy this century, based on a rate of 2 to 3
percent per year. The China economy, alone, is projecting four-fold growth over the next two decades,
including the projection for China to build half of all new buildings in the world. There is every opportunity
for regulators and policymakers to provide incentives for satisfying this growth that promote radical gains in
energy, water and resource efficiency.

Providing the incentives and technical assistance for manufacturers to install high-efficiency motors, pumps
and compressors and produce higher efficiency goods; for builders to design and construct zero-net-energy
“green” buildings; and for builders, retailers and customers to install the top 10 percent most efficient
appliances, lights, consumer electronics and office electronic equipment, collectively could reduce by half
the electricity services otherwise provided by power plants powering inefficient devices, equipment and
buildings.

In just China, some $5 trillion in avoided power plant construction and operating costs could be saved, with
perhaps $1 trillion of the savings required as incentives and technical assistance to achieve the savings
investments and the other $4 trillion freed up from the utility sector for additional economic activity. As
importantly, this energy savings could avoid several times this amount in health and environmental damages,
including preventing 16 billion tons per decade of CO2 emissions and some 90 million tons of acid rain and
urban smog pollutants.16

3. Adoption of climate policies and incentives that align with regulatory decoupling

Strongly support and advocate for immediate adoption by state and federal governments of a cap-and-auction
process that is in alignment with the state IRP decoupling, least-cost planning processes. Resource
management policies, including cap-and-trade design, should be tested against these criteria: 1) How many
tons will this create or avoid? 2) How much will it cost consumers per ton avoided? 3) Is it profitable for the
utility (or someone else) to do a good job at #1 and #2? Given the immense pool of negative cost, zero cost,

16
Totten, Michael, (2007), China's Bold Challenge, Solar Today magazine, February, American Solar Energy Society,
www.ases.org/. Lu Zhi, M. Totten and P. Chou (2006). Spurring Innovations for Clean Energy and Water Protection
in China: An Opportunity to Advance Security and Harmonious Development, China Environment Series, No 8,
December 2006, Woodrow Wilson International Center,
http://wilsoncenter.org/topics/pubs/CEF_SpecialReport.8.pdf.

8
and ultra-low cost demand-side efficiency opportunities, in practical implementation terms this means
supporting a cap-and-auction allocation mechanism that is oriented towards the load-side (customer-facing,
or demand-side), and NOT to the generator-side.17

In essence, rather than providing a windfall to power generators as a result of a free allocation, the focus is
on allocating up to 100% of initial credits to consumer representatives (e.g., distribution utilities, or an
efficiency utility), requiring them to set a carbon budget, and having them manage the portfolio within the
cap. Vermont law is 100%; NY & MA draft rules now at 100%; CT, NJ may follow; RGGI currently at
25%, and CA and OR setting theirs.

This approach is also far superior to simply increasing utility costs with a carbon tax, or allocating all the
carbon allowances to the polluting utility generating companies.18 Based on a quarter century of empirical
results from demand-side efficiency programs, each dollar spent through smart programs deliver at least 5
times the efficiency savings motivated through higher prices.

4. Adoption of public policies that incorporate the full range of externality costs into the regulatory
planning and decisionmaking process

One of the great benefits of expanding the utility regulatory process to include cost-effective, end-use
efficiency, onsite generation, and distributed service options, is the great flexibility in siting practices. As
previously projected power plants are no longer found necessary, or can be indefinitely deferred, this allows
a more robust site selection process that can avoid incurring a myriad of externality costs and losses.
Explicitly, taking into account the value and benefits accrued from the ecosystem services of KBAs, which
can be mapped out for decisionmakers, can help shift selections to other available locations.

17
Richard Cowart, Power Sector Emission Caps: Environmental and Economic Design Goals, presentation to the
California Public Utility Commission, April 19, 2007, www.raponline.org/.
18
“Under a cap-and-trade program [NOT customer-facing, but polluter-facing], the value of allowances issued to the
power sector for its emissions of CO2 will be enormous…At $25 per metric ton (~the EU price) the value of
allowances to be allocated to the US power industry would be some $59 billion annually….the equivalent of 83% of
the net income of all publicly-traded US electric utilities in 2006.” Bernstein Research, “US Utilities: The
Implications of Carbon Dioxide Regulation,” October 2007, cited in Richard Cowart, former Chairman, Vermont
Public Service Board, now with the non-profit group, Regulatory Assistance Project, Resource Choices in a Carbon-
Constrained World, presentation at Annual Meeting, National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners
(NARUC), Nov. 12, 2007, www.narucmeetings.org/Presentations/Monday%201%20(2)%20Cowart.ppt.

9
 APPENDIX
HYDROPOWER ACTIVITIES UNDEWAY – unfinished list

There are more than 45,000 large dams in 140 countries, and about two-thirds of them are in the developing
world, where new construction is also heavily concentrated. In China’s Yangtze River basin alone, 105 large
dams are planned or under construction. Dams already built and operating in key biodiversity areas are of
concern for removal at some point (as is being done throughout North America), in addition to preventing
siting of new dams in KBAs.

Maximum Construction Scheduled

Name Country Comments
Capacity started completion
SOUTH AMERICA
Chapetón 3,000 MW Argentina
Pati Dam 3,300 MW Argentina
Santo Antônio Rio Madeira. Along with the Jirau dam, these 2 projects are Brazil’s first large hydroelectric expansion since the
3,150 MW Brazil 2007 2012
Dam Xingo dam on the São Francisco River, completed in 1994.
Jirau Dam 3,300 MW Brazil 2007 2013 Rio Madeira.
Paranatinga II
Brazil Rio Culuene River, a tributary of the Xingu, Paranatinga II would destroy an area sacred to 14 tribal groups
dam
Rio Xingu. Would be 3rd largest dam in the world, and Brazil's largest. The dam would flood 44,000 hectares
11,182 and displace 16,000 people. Due to low water levels three months of the year, Belo Monte would have to cease
Belo Monte Brazil
MW operations and water would be stored in another proposed dam—the upstream Babaquara Dam—which as
originally designed would flood 6,000 square miles of rainforest.
São Luís Dam Brazil Rio Tapajós
Rio Tocantins. There are two major threats to the Araguaia–Tocantins watershed basin. The government plasn
to construct 80 dams in the basin – 12 large dams on the main stem of the Tocantins (4 already built), 7 on the
Araguaia (which is still undammed), and 14 other large dams and dozens of smaller dams on upstream
tributaries. Another is a plan to channelize and blast rock outcroppings along 1,782 km of the Araguaia and its
tributary, the das Mortes river, as well as sections of the Tocantins to construct an industrial waterway, or
Estreito Dam Brazil
hidrovia, to lower the cost of transporting soybeans for export. These dams are seen as the cornerstone of the
Brazil–Bolivia–Peru energy hub of the Initiative for the Regional Integration of South American Infrastructure
(IIRSA), a blueprint for large–scale infrastructure supported by the Inter–American Development Bank (IDB),
the Andean Development Corporation (CAF), the Rio Plata Development Fund (Fonplata) and Brazil’s National
Economic and Social Development Bank (BNDES).

Tocoma This new power plant would be the last development in the Low Caroni Basin, bringing the total to six power
2,160 MW Venezuela 2004 2014
(Manuel Piar) plants on the same river, including the 10,000MW Guri Dam.

MESO AMERICA

NORTH AMERICA
Lower Churchill 2,800 MW Canada 2009 2014
Mexico
Mexico
Mexico

10
CHINA
Three Gorges 22,500 December
China 2009 Largest power plant in the world. First power in July 2003, with 12,600 MW installed by October 2007.
Dam MW 14, 1994
12,600 December
Xiluodu Dam China 2015 Construction once stopped due to lack of environmental impact study.
MW 26, 2005
November
Xiangjiaba Dam 6,400 MW China 2015
26, 2006
December
Longtan Dam 6,300 MW China July 1, 2001
2009
Nuozhadu Dam 5,850 MW China 2006 2017
Jinping 2
January 30,
Hydropower 4,800 MW China 2014
2007
Station
April 18,
Laxiwa Dam 4,200 MW China 2010
2006
January 1, December
Xiaowan Dam 4,200 MW China
2002 2012
Jinping 1
November
Hydropower 3,600 MW China 2014
11, 2005
Station
March 30,
Pubugou Dam 3,300 MW China 2010
2004
November 8,
Goupitan Dam 3,000 MW China 2011
2003
December
Jinanqiao Dam 2,400 MW China 2010
2006
November
Guandi Dam 2,400 MW China 2012
11, 2007
Ahai Dam 2,000 MW China July 27, 2006
12,000
Baihetan Dam China 2009 2015 Still in planning
MW
Wudongde
7,000 MW China 2009 2015 Still in planning
Dam
Maji Dam 4,200 MW China 2008 2013
Songta Dam 4,200 MW China 2008 2013
Liangjiaren
4,000 MW China 2009 2015 Still in planning
Dam
Guanyinyan
3,000 MW China 2009 2015 Still in planning
Dam
Lianghekou
3,000 MW China 2009 2015
Dam
Liyuan Dam 2,400 MW China 2008
Dagangshan
2,300 MW China 2009 2015
Dam
Changheba
2,200 MW China 2009 2015
Dam
Ludila Dam 2,100 MW China 2009 2015
EURASIA & MIDDLE EAST
Bureya Dam 2,010 MW Russia 1978 2009
Boguchan Dam 3,000 MW Russia 1980 2012

Lower Subansiri
2,000 MW India 2005 2009
Dam
50,000
Red Sea dam Middle East Unknown Unknown Still in planning, would be largest dam in the world
MW
SE ASIA

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 Kamchay Dam is under construction by Sinohydro Corporation in Bokor National Park and expected to flood
10 dams 2,045 MW Cambodia 2010 to 2019 2,000 hectares of protected forest. Two recent dams will be located in Cambodia's SW Cardamom Protected
Forest, with 1,600 hectares of woodland flooded or cleared.
The dam will be built on the Mekong mainstream at a location known as Khone Falls, where the River forms a
complex network of narrow channels, or 'hoo' in Lao, at the point at which it flows into Cambodia. The dam will
block Hoo Sahong, the deepest channel on that section of the river, and the movement of migratory fish that
Don Sahong now easily pass through at the peak of the dry season, April to May, when the water level of the Mekong is at its
360 MW Laos
dam lowest. This will effectively block the dry season migration of fish between the feeding habitats of the Tonle Sap
Lake and upstream breeding zones in Laos and Thailand, critics say. It is also likely to alter water flow patterns
in the immediate downstream area, further disrupting migration patterns for fish species sensitive to changes in
water levels.
Sre Pok river. Four of the six planned Sre Pok dams are already under construction (Buon Kuop 280 MW;
Sre Pok 6 dams Vietnam
BanTou Srah 86 MW; Dray Linh New 16 MW; and Sre Pok 3 220 MW)

AFRICA
Capanda Dam 520 MW Angola Interrupted by wars and conflict over past two decades.
7 dams 5,000 MW Angola Most power to be exported to other southern African countries.
Dyodyonga
38 MW Benin & Niger Would inundate parts of World Heritage park in Niger. Mekrou river flows only 4-5 months per year.
Dam
Adjarala Dam 96 MW Benin & Togo 2nd largest dam on Mono River. Will displace 8,000 people.
Involves the construction of a reservoir dam in Cameroon's East Province, 4 km from the confluence of the Lom
Lom Pangar
Cameroon and Pangar rivers on the Sanaga River basin. The 45 meter-high dam will create a reservoir covering an
Dam
estimated 61,000 hectares. Will flood protected forests. AES builder/operator. Mainly for aluminum.
Memve Ele
200 MW Cameroon Ntem River.
Dam
Sanaga River. Proposed as run-of-river, but requires completion Lom Pangar Dam upstream. To be operated
Nachtigal Dam Cameron
by Alcan.
351 MW,
Inga I, II rehab DR Congo 1972, 1982 Only operating at 30% capacity.
1,424 MW
Stepping stone to massive Grand Inga scheme. Tied to 3,000 km transmission lines. In 2004 governments and
Inga III 3,500 MW DR Congo utility companies of 5 southern African countries – South Africa, Angola, DRC, Namibia, and Botswana – signed
agreements establishing the Western Power Corridor (Westcor), to build and operate.
Grand Inga 40,000
DR Congo Would be largest hydropower installation. S. African utility Eskom taking lead. Price tag $50 billion.
Hydro Project MW
185 meter dam on Tributary of Blue Nile. Just one of dozens planned for Blue Nile. Chinese to build. Malaria
Tekeze Dam 300 MW Ethiopia
increases anticipated.
Gilgel Gibe II 420 MW Ethiopia Omo River. Technical hydropower potential of 35,000 MW. Gilgel Gibe I dam resettled 5,000 people.
Gojeb Dam 140 MW Ethiopia Gojeb River.
170 MW,
Baro I, II Ethiopia Baro River, tributary White Nile, 2 dams proposed. Being studied under Nile Basin Initiative.
280 MW
1000-1600
Karadobi Ethiopia Abay River. Being studied under Nile Basin Initiative.
MW
Neshi Dam 186 MW Ethiopia Neshi River, 300 km east of Addis Ababa.
Kesem Dam Ethiopia
Tendaho Dam Ethiopia
Gambia River. Joint project of the Gambia River Basin Development Organisation (OMVG), comprising The
Sambangalou Gambia 2010
Gambia, Guinea, Senegal and Guinea-Bissau
Black Volta River. Chinese proposed build. Would flood nearly a quarter of the Bui National Park, destroying
Bui Dam 400 MW Ghana habitat for rare hippos, forcibly resettling 2,600 people. The Volta River Authority (VRA) has identified 16
hydrodam sites.
Sondu-Miriu Sondu River. In January 2005, Kenya's Environmental Minister declared that Sondu-Miriu will be a "white
60 MW Kenya
Dam elephant" if heavy deforestation continues in the watershed.
Mara River Basin. The project would transfer water from the Amala River to the headwaters of the Ewaso
Ngiro River. Since the Amala River flows southwards into Mara River which passes
Ewaso Ngiro
180 MW Kenya through the Serengeti Ecosystem and finally into Lake Victoria, this project will
(aka Amala)
substantially reduce the volume of water available in the Mara River and may lead to
complete drying of the river in times of severe drought. The project will severely affect the Serengeti ecosystem

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 and the Masarua Swamp, a key water resource within Serengeti National Park. The project has caused
massive controversy between Kenya and Tanzania. Tanzania fears fragile flamingo nesting and breeding sites
will be destroyed. Tanzania has twice vetoed the project.
Lowlands Water Supply Project. The project has been targeted by the US –government's Millennium Challenge
Metolong Dam Lesotho
Corp.
Mashai Dam Lesotho 5-dam Lesotho Highlands Water Project.
Studying the possibility of a pumped-storage project that would pump the northern part of Lake Malawi to
Malawi Pumped
1,600 MW Malawi produce up to 1,600 megawatts of electricity. Possible export of power to countries like Tanzania, Somalia and
Storage
Sudan.
Kaphichira 64 MW Malawi Phase 2 being studied.
Fufu Dam 100 MW Malawi 2012 Being studied.
Kholombizo
240 MW Malawi 2018 Being studied.
Dam
Mpatamanga
260 MW Malawi 2020 Being studied.
Dam
Talo Dam Mali
Moulouya Morocco's Moulouya River Basin Agency is in charge of a project that includes building 15 more dams on the
Morocco
Dams Moulouya River over several decades. Two Ramsar sites in the area that will be affected by the plan.
Zambezi River. Intended for power export to South Africa and possibly to help power the huge Mozal aluminum
Mphanda
Mozambique smelter. The Zambezi is one of the most heavily dammed rivers in Africa. More than 30 large dams have
Nkuwa Dam
already been constructed throughout its basin.
Cahora Bassa
Mozambique Zambezi River.
Dam
2nd largest Dam in country, 4 km downstream from eastern border Kruger National Park. Rehabilitation also
entails restoring the dam wall to enable the dam to carry its full reservoir of 2.8 billion m3. The project is likely to
impact the Oliphants River gorge in Kruger Natl Park. "The dam will cause massive sedimentation in the gorge,
Massingir Dam,
Mozambique but there is no information available because no proper study has been undertaken. The sedimentation will
rehabilitation
destroy the deep pool-rapid ecosystem in the lower Olifants and
Letaba rivers. Once lost this national treasure cannot be regained." This is also the largest breeding ground for
the Nile Crocodile.
Okavango River. Potentially disastrous impact on the Okavango Delta and its relatively small power output
Popa Falls Dam Namibia
make it unlikely to proceed.
Nambia & Cunene River. Has been shelved after the project’s terrible impacts on the Himba tribal people received major
Epupa Dam
Angola international attention.
230-meter-high multi-purpose dam would impound a large part of the Niger River, produce 125MW of power,
provide irrigation water to a proposed 122,000 hectares, and displace some 33,500 people. An EIA prepared by
Niger Assoc EIA Professionals concluded, “Current scientific knowledge suggests that western Niger is likely to
Kandadji Dam 125 MW Niger 2012 experience increasingly frequent periods of drought with greater climatic fluctuations, accompanied by an
underlying upward trend in ambient temperatures and an increase in evapotranspiration. In such conditions,
the Niger River itself is in danger of disappearing, with the environmental and socio-economic consequences
that this will entail.”
Mambila Dam 3,900 MW Nigeria China financing 100% and building. Site is located in NE Nigeria on the Mambila plateau
Zungeru Dam 950 MW Nigeria Kaduna River. Chinese financing 100%.
Republic
Imboulou Dam 120 MW Lefini River. Led by consortium two Chinese private companies.
Congo
Kouilou River near confluence with the Niari River. Canadian-based magnesium company, MagIndustries,
Sounda Gorge Republic
1000 MW building project. 3 phases, initially 20 MW, expanded to 240 MW, and finally increase dam height to 65 meters
Dam Congo
to yield 1000 MW capacity.
Rwanda,
Rusumo Falls
61 MW Tanzania, Akagera River.
Dam
Burundi
Completed dams on Senegal River Basin for irrigation, but no initial hydropower. Notorious for vastly increasing
Manantali & water-borne disease in local populations. Created the largest epidemic of Schistosomiasis infection in Africa.
Senegal and
Diama Dam 225 MW Senegalese president has said he wants to double the capacity of the Manantali dam. He recommended to his
Mali
expansion counterparts from Mali and Mauritania that three secondary dams be built downstream from the Manantali on
the Bafing, a tributary of the Senegal River. Each would have a 75 MW capacity.
Sambangalou Gambia River Basin Development Organization launched study, "Multinational Electric Power Grids," funded by
Senegal &
Dam, Kaléta African Dev. Fund. Two large dams are planned: the first located in Sambangalou, a village in southern Senegal
Guinea
Dam at the river Gambia, the second at Kaléta, on the Konkouré river, central Guinea.
Vioolsdrift and South Africa & Lower Orange River Management Study. The proposed dam would be downstream of the Vanderkloof Dam on
Boegoeberg Namibia the South African side. Because of South Africa’s strong water law, feasibility of these dams would be affected

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Dams by environmental flow requirements.
Dept Water Affairs and Forestry considering the proposed Thukela Water project in Kwazulu-Natal, includes a
Jana Dam and
South Africa 120 km pipeline linking into Drakensberg pumped storage scheme near Bergville. This would supply additional
Mielietuin Dam
water to the Vaal river system through Sterkfontein dam, in the south of Mpumalanga.
Large dam under construction to deliver water to nearby Cape Town. Will dam one of last free-flowing river
Skuifraam Dam South Africa
reaches in the area.
Giant hydrodam on Nile River, funded byh Arabian investment banks and built by Chinese and EU firms.
Merowe Dam Sudan
Violence during displacement of thousands of people.
220 meter high dam sited at 2nd cataract on Nile. Built at the heart of remaining Nubian land, removal of 50,000
Kajbar Dam 300 MW Sudan
people. Chinese financing 75% and building.
Studies have identified 8 major hydropower potential sites: Stieglers Gorge,
Rufiji Basin 2100 MW; Mpanga, 165 MW; Ruhudji, 685 MW; Mnyera, 485 MW; Iringa, 87 MW;
Tanzania
Dams Lukose, 130 MW; Kihansi, 180 MW (operational); Kilombero (Kingenena's and
Shughuli Falls), 464 MW.
Rumakali Dam Tanzania Under study.
Bujagali Dam Uganda Nile River. Riddled with corruption, controversy. History of strong World Bank-IFC support.
150-200
Karuma Dam Uganda Nile River.
MW
Zambia River. 2005 report from Swiss-based research group EAWAG, “China’s copper
Kafue Gorge demand in the last five years has risen dramatically. The investment into the Kafue Gorge Lower project can be
Zambia
Lower seen as a strategy to sustain the mining industry in the Copperbelt.” This project is set to go ahead along an
already heavily dammed river. Kafue would have impacts on a World Heritage Site downstream of the dam
Itezhi-Tezhi
120 MW Zambia Extension of existing Itezhi-Tezhi dam.
Dam
Kariba North
150 MW Zambia European Investment Bank financing rehabilitation of 4 turbines and extension of 150 MW.
rehab extension
Other possible dams include: Batoka Gorge (1600 MW), Devil’s Gorge (1240 MW), Mpata Gorge (1000 MW),
10 Dam sites Zambia Mambilima (700 MW), Mobututa (300 MW), Lumange Falls (60 MW), Kabwelume Falls (54 MW), Lusiwasi (40
MW), Lunsemfwa (40 MW), Kalungwishi (220 MW).
Kariba South The Zimbabwean electric utility, ZESA, is planning to expand the Kariba South Power
300 MW Zimbabwe
extension Station with two units of 150 MW each for a total of 300 MW increase.
Located on the Zambezi River in Matabeleland North province. The project is intended to supply Zimbabwe’s
Gwayi second largest town, Bulawayo, with water as well as for irrigation. It would have significant social,
Zimbabwe
Shangani Dam environmental, and economic impacts. Chinese build-own-transfer project. Part of the ambitious Matabeleland
Zambezi Water Project.
Tokwe-Mukorsi Delayed construction due to govt. failed payments to builder. If completed, the dam will have 1.9 billion cubic
Zimbabwe
Dam meters of water storage capacity, largest inland dam in Zimbabwe.
Bubi-Lupane
Zimbabwe Locagted in Matabeland North, status unknown.
Dam
Source: Wikipedia, Hydroelectricity, Sept. 03, 2008, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydroelectricity. IRN, Dams Planned
for African Rivers, International Rivers Network’s Africa Program, updated May 2006,
http://www.internationalrivers.org/files/African%20Dams%20Briefings%202006.pdf.

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