The Xalalá Hydroelectric Dam is a proposed dam that will span the Chixoy River in the municipality of Ixcán in

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...

. The US$ 400 million dam's hydroelectric power station will have an installed capacity of 181

MWe The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Watt ...

, generating an estimated 886

GWh A kilowatt-hour (unit symbol: kW⋅h or kW h; commonly written as kWh) is a unit of energy: one kilowatt of power for one hour. In terms of SI derived units with special names, it equals 3.6 megajoules (MJ). Kilowatt-hours are a common bil ...

of electricity per year.

Controversy and funding

Despite the dam's benefits, there has been strong local opposition to the project. Controversy surrounds the site since it will flood 31.8 km² and displace twelve Q'eqchi' Maya communities. It is a project of the

Plan Puebla Panama The Mesoamerica Integration and Development Project, or in Spanish (PM), is a mechanism by which 10 countries centered on Central America implement regional projects for development and integration. The 10 participating countries are Belize, ...

. In the municipality of Ixcan, of 21,000 people who voted, 91% voted against the creation of the dam. Strong opposition to the project has been credited with the lack of funding of the site. Private funding of the site was halted in April 2007. Despite the government's efforts and interest from foreign investors, plans to finance the project have stopped since.

References

Hydroelectric power stations in Guatemala Proposed hydroelectric power stations Dams in Guatemala Proposed renewable energy power stations in Guatemala {{hydroelectric-power-plant-stub

Controversy and funding

See also

References