People navigate a boat down the Sesan River, past Kbal Romea
commune, in Stung Treng province’s Sesan district last year. Photograph: Adam
Miller/Phnom Penh Post
While the humanitarian objections to Mondulkiri’s proposed
Lower Sesan 2 hydropower dam project are well documented, a report from
conservation NGO International Rivers yesterday highlighted an objection of
another sort: the Lower Sesan wouldn’t be a very good location for a dam in the
first place.
According to the report, which compiled information from the
Asian Development Bank (ADB), environmental assessments and local media
reports, the Lower Sesan is a poor place for such a project from a logistical
standpoint, and the dam would rank among the least efficient in terms of
megawatts (MW) of power produced versus land lost to flooding.
“If the project generates more than 10 MW per square
kilometre of reservoir, the performance is considered good, 5-10 MW is
moderate, and below 5 MW the project ‘needs to be carefully assessed’,” the
report reads, citing a technical paper from the ADB. “The Lower Sesan 2
receives a score of only 1.1 MW [per square kilometer] of reservoir.”
The report said that the Lower Sesan is heavily dammed above
the proposed site, and even dams upstream are struggling to get enough water to
operate at full capacity – due in part to more dams even farther upstream.
In the dry season, the 400 MW dam would only be able to
operate at one-quarter of its capacity.
According to SRP lawmaker Son Chhay, who has long opposed
the dam, not only is the project economically unfeasible, its proposed output
is still a matter of debate.
“It’s exaggerated,” he said.
Chhay also questioned the prospect of selling half of the
dam’s output to Vietnam, which currently imports electricity to Cambodia.
Right now, Vietnam imports 135 MW of power per day to Phnom
Penh alone, according to Electricite du Cambodge.
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