The Xayaburi Dam is a
run-of-river
Run-of-river hydroelectricity (ROR) or run-of-the-river hydroelectricity is a type of hydroelectric generation plant whereby little or no water storage is provided. Run-of-the-river power plants may have no water storage at all or a limited amou ...
hydroelectric dam on the
Lower Mekong River, approximately east of
Sainyabuli
Sainyabuli, ( lo, ໄຊຍະບູລີ; alternatively spelled ''Xaignabouli'', ''Xayaburi'', or ''Xayaboury'') is the capital of Sainyabuli Province, Laos. It lies on Route 4 which along with Route 13 connects it to Luang Prabang, roughly ...
(Xayaburi) town in northern
Laos
Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...
. Commercial operation of the dam started in October 2019.
The main purpose of the dam is to produce hydroelectric power, 95% of which is to be purchased by the
Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand
The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) ( th, การไฟฟ้าฝ่ายผลิตแห่งประเทศไทย; ) is a state enterprise, managed by the Ministry of Energy, responsible for electric power ge ...
(EGAT). The project is surrounded in controversy due to complaints from downstream
riparian
A riparian zone or riparian area is the interface between land and a river or stream. Riparian is also the proper nomenclature for one of the terrestrial biomes of the Earth. Plant habitats and communities along the river margins and banks ar ...
s and environmentalists. Preliminary construction began in early-2012, but work on the dam itself was suspended shortly thereafter due to complaints from Cambodia and Vietnam downstream. After making modifications to the dam's design, Laos started construction with a ceremony on 7 November 2012.
The Xayaburi Dam is the first of the 11 dams planned on the lower Mekong.
History
![Xayaburi_Mainstream_Mekong_Dam_(5603585266)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Xayaburi_Mainstream_Mekong_Dam_%285603585266%29.jpg)
On 4 May 2007, the Lao government signed a
memorandum of understanding with Thailand's CH. Karnchang Public Company for the development of this hydropower project. The formal project development agreement followed in November 2008, and a feasibility study was conducted that same year by Swiss-based AF Colenco and Thai TEAM consultants. The
environmental impact assessment
Environmental Impact assessment (EIA) is the assessment of the environmental consequences of a plan, policy, program, or actual projects prior to the decision to move forward with the proposed action. In this context, the term "environmental imp ...
was submitted in February 2010. In July 2010, a memorandum of understanding for power purchase was signed by EGAT and the Lao government.
According to the 1995 Mekong Agreement, the project is subject to the
Mekong River Commission
The Mekong River Commission (MRC) is an "...inter-governmental organisation that works directly with the governments of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam to jointly manage the shared water resources and the sustainable development of the Mekon ...
(MRC) ''Procedures for Notification, Prior Consultation, and Agreement''. Under this agreement, the project's host country must notify the governments of the other signatories, namely
Cambodia
Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...
,
Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...
, and
Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
. The process was initiated in September 2010. It is the first project initiated through a regional decision-making process.
On 19 April 2011, the MRC Joint Committee announced that the MRC countries could not reach a consensus on how to proceed with the project, and agreed that a decision on the prior consultation process be tabled for consideration at the ministerial level. However, in June 2011, the Laos Government gave the Thai developer CH. Karnchang the go-ahead to resume work on the Xayaburi Dam, informing the company that the Mekong River Commission
The Mekong River Commission (MRC) is an "...inter-governmental organisation that works directly with the governments of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam to jointly manage the shared water resources and the sustainable development of the Mekon ...
's decision-making process was completed. Prashanth Parameswaran, a former researcher at the Project 2049 Institute, who is conducting research on dam projects in Southeast Asia, warned, "Laos' actions not only represent a breach of trust, but threaten to undermine already fledgling efforts at regional cooperation in an ecosystem that supports the livelihoods of tens of millions of people."
Dam construction began on 15 March 2012. CH. Karnchang announced on 17 April 2012 the signing of a 52 billion baht contract with the Xayaburi Power Company. Preliminary construction (roads, bridges, support facilities) had accelerated in the prior few months. Cambodia's government immediately reacted to the announcement, threatening to take Laos to international court if they chose to build it unilaterally. Laos announced a halt to construction on 11 May 2012 due to complaints from neighbors and environmental groups. Commercial operation of the dam started in October 2019.
Description
The Xayaburi Dam is on a site upstream of Vientiane and downstream of Jinhong, the last dam of a Chinese cascade of seven dams, including four existing and three planned dams. In terms of energy supply, it will be the third largest project among those considered for development on the mainstem in the Lower Mekong Basin.
The Xayaburi Dam is long and high with a rated hydraulic head
Hydraulic head or piezometric head is a specific measurement of liquid pressure above a vertical datum., 410 pages. See pp. 43–44., 650 pages. See p. 22.
It is usually measured as a liquid surface elevation, expressed in units of length, ...
of . Sitting at the head of a catchment area
In human geography, a catchment area is the area from which a location, such as a city, service or institution, attracts a population that uses its services and economic opportunities. Catchment areas may be defined based on from where people are ...
, it will create a reservoir with gross storage capacity and a surface area of .[ The reservoir will reach in depth and stretch between . The dam features a navigation lock and two fish passes.]
The power plant houses seven 175 MW Kaplan turbine
The Kaplan turbine is a propeller-type water turbine which has adjustable blades. It was developed in 1913 by Austrian professor Viktor Kaplan, who combined automatically adjusted propeller blades with automatically adjusted wicket gates to ach ...
-generators and one 60 MW Kaplan turbine generator. The total installed capacity
Nameplate capacity, also known as the rated capacity, nominal capacity, installed capacity, or maximum effect, is the intended full-load sustained output of a facility such as a power station, is 1,285 megawatts, with a total annual energy production of 7,406 GWh.[ Around 95% of produced electricity (the seven 175 MW generators) would be exported to Thailand through a planned long transmission line from the Xayaburi Dam to Loei Province in Thailand. The dam's construction will take 96 months at a cost of approximately US$3.5 billion.][ It will become operational by 2020.]
Some people question whether the dam will function in the long term because its reservoir may be filled with silt.[ A team of international sediment experts engaged by the Mekong River Commission (MRC) looked at this question and concluded that a proper sediment management plan and redesign of sediment passing structure will minimize sediment trapping. The developer stated it has accepted the MRC's conclusions and adopted its recommendations on sediment management.
]
Developers, engineers, and financiers
The project is developed by Xayaburi Power Company Limited, a subsidiary of the Thai construction company CH. Karnchang Public Company Limited. Ch. Karnchang Public Company is also the leading contractor for the project. A syndicated loan
A syndicated loan is one that is provided by a group of lenders and is structured, arranged, and administered by one or several commercial banks or investment banks known as lead arrangers.
The syndicated loan market is the dominant way for larg ...
of 80 billion Thai baht (US$2.67 billion at the March 2013 exchange rate) is provided by six Thai banks: Bangkok Bank
Bangkok Bank Public Company Limited ( th, ธนาคารกรุงเทพ, Royal Thai General System of Transcription, RTGS: Thanakhan Krung Thep) is one of the largest commercial banks in Thailand. Its branch network includes over 1,165 ...
, Kasikorn Bank
Kasikornbank ( th, ธนาคารกสิกรไทย, , Teochew: Khai-thài Ngîng-hâng, , stylised in all caps), often stylised as KBank and formerly known as the Thai Farmers Bank is a banking group in Thailand. KBank was establishe ...
, the government-owned Krung Thai Bank
Krungthai Bank ( th, ธนาคารกรุงไทย; ), officially Krungthai Bank Public Company Limited, and sometimes known by its initials KTB, is a state-owned bank under license issued by the Ministry of Finance (Thailand), Ministry ...
, Siam Commercial Bank
Siam Commercial Bank ( th, ธนาคารไทยพาณิชย์; ) is a Thai bank that was founded on 30 January 1907.
History
SCB was founded as the "Book Club" on 4 October 1904 by Prince Jayanta Mongkol, a brother of King Ch ...
, TISCO, and the Export-Import Bank of Thailand (EXIM Bank). Thailand’s electricity utility, EGAT
The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) ( th, การไฟฟ้าฝ่ายผลิตแห่งประเทศไทย; ) is a state enterprise, managed by the Ministry of Energy, responsible for electric power ge ...
, has agreed to purchase 95 percent of the dam's electricity.
The engineering firm for the dam is the Finnish company Pöyry
Pöyry PLC ( fi, Pöyry Oyj), which merged in 2019 with Swedish company ÅF into AFRY, was an international consulting and engineering firm that served clients globally across the energy and industrial sectors and provided local engineering serv ...
. Pöyry carried out a comparison between the original design of the dam and the recommendations of the Mekong River Commission
The Mekong River Commission (MRC) is an "...inter-governmental organisation that works directly with the governments of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam to jointly manage the shared water resources and the sustainable development of the Mekon ...
, a body that brings together all riparian states of the lower Mekong and that has carried out a strategic environmental assessment for the impact of the planned cascade of dams on the Mekong. In that comparison, Pöyry recommended improving the sustainability of the dam "including additional environmental studies, installation of additional fish ladders and other measures to improve fish migration as well as technical design modifications to improve the sediment and nutrients handling." After this, Pöyry was contracted to modify the design and to supervise the dam's construction, without awaiting the results of the unspecified "additional environmental studies". Critics point out that analyzing the environmental impact of a dam inherently constitutes a conflict of interest with the more lucrative design and supervision of the dam. Pöyry stated and even guaranteed that the dam's environmental impacts could be mitigated, a statement for which it was severely criticized. The French engineering company Compagnie Nationale du Rhône
The Compagnie Nationale du Rhône (CNR) is a French electricity generation company, mainly supplying renewable power from hydroelectric facilities on the Rhone.
Operations
Established in 1933, as of 2009 the company derives most of its power fr ...
(CNR) was hired to provide an independent "peer review" of the Pöyry findings related to hydrology, navigation, and, in particular, sediment transport. CNR recommended further studies "to improve the project". This was interpreted as CNR distancing itself from Pöyry's conclusions.
Impact
According to International Rivers
International Rivers is a non-profit, non-governmental, environmental, and human rights organization. Founded in 1985 by social and environmental activists, International Rivers works with policy and financial analysts, scientists, journalists, ...
, the dam's construction would cause around 2,100 people to be resettled, and more than 202,000 people living in the dam's area would experience impacts due to the loss of agricultural land and riverbank gardens, bring an end to gold panning
Gold panning, or simply ''panning'', is a form of placer mining and traditional mining that extracts gold from a placer deposit using a pan. The process is one of the simplest ways to extract gold, and is popular with geology enthusiasts especi ...
in the river, and provide less access to the forest resources of the Luang Prabang Range
The Luang Prabang Range ( th, ทิวเขาหลวงพระบาง, ), named after Luang Prabang, is a mountain range straddling northwestern Laos and Northern Thailand.
Most of the range is located in Sainyabuli Province (Laos), as ...
. The Xayaburi Dam would also have a significant effect on the biodiversity of the river ecosystem, and the fisheries within the larger Mekong River basin.[ According to a ]World Wildlife Fund
The World Wide Fund for Nature Inc. (WWF) is an international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the Wo ...
(WWF) report, the Xayaburi Dam would drive the already critically endangered Mekong giant catfish
The Mekong giant catfish (''Pangasianodon gigas''; th, ปลาบึก, , ; km, ត្រីរាជ /''trəy riec''/; vi, cá tra dầu), is a large, threatened species of catfish (order Siluriformes) in the shark catfish family (Pang ...
(''Pangasianodon gigas'') to extinction.
Because the Mekong is a complex ecosystem that hosts the most productive inland fisheries in the world, the stakes are high for the construction of such a dam. According to a study conducted by WWF and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)french: link=no, Organisation des Nations unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture; it, Organizzazione delle Nazioni Unite per l'Alimentazione e l'Agricoltura is an intern ...
, and coordinated by the WorldFish Center
WorldFish is an international nonprofit research institution that creates and translates scientific research on aquatic food systems.
WorldFish is a member of CGIAR, which unites international organizations engaged in research about food secur ...
, there are 229 fish species whose spawning and migratory patterns would be affected by a mainstream dam. This change in fish biodiversity and abundance would greatly affect the tens of millions of people in the Greater Mekong Sub-region who depend on the river for their food and livelihood. According to Phnom Penh-based WorldFish Center
WorldFish is an international nonprofit research institution that creates and translates scientific research on aquatic food systems.
WorldFish is a member of CGIAR, which unites international organizations engaged in research about food secur ...
, this damage to fisheries "cannot be mitigated by fish passes and reservoirs".['' IRIN News']
"Laos: Decision expected on controversial Mekong dam"
25 February 2011
A strategic environmental assessment
Strategic environmental assessment (SEA) is a systematic decision support process, aiming to ensure that environmental and possibly other sustainability aspects are considered effectively in policy, plan and program making. In this context, followi ...
commissioned by the Mekong River Commission
The Mekong River Commission (MRC) is an "...inter-governmental organisation that works directly with the governments of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam to jointly manage the shared water resources and the sustainable development of the Mekon ...
(MRC) recommends a 10-year deferral of all Mekong mainstream dams in Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam, and calls for further studies.[ According to an MRC spokeswoman, construction of the Xayaburi Dam "will result in irreversible environmental impacts".][ The MRC warns that if Xayaburi and subsequent schemes went ahead, it would "fundamentally undermine the abundance, productivity and diversity of the Mekong fish resources".
]Milton Osborne
Milton Edgeworth Osborne, is an Australian historian, author, and consultant specializing in Southeast Asia.
Education
Osborne attended North Sydney Boys High School, graduated from the University of Sydney and received his Doctor of Philosophy ...
, Visiting Fellow at the Lowy Institute for International Policy
The Lowy Institute is an independent think tank founded in April 2003 by Frank Lowy to conduct original, policy-relevant research about international political, strategic and economic issues from an Australian perspective. It is based in Sydney, ...
who has written widely on the Mekong, warns: "The future scenario is of the Mekong ceasing to be a bounteous source of fish and guarantor of agricultural richness, with the great river below China becoming little more than a series of unproductive lakes."
None of the mitigation measures for fish and sediment passage included in the dam's current design have been tested at scale or in this environment. "Nowhere in the tropics has a successful fish passage been built for a dam the size of Xayaburi," said Dr. Eric Baran of the World Fish Centre in Phnom Penh. "It is unreasonable to assume that the proposed fish passage options will be efficient when they are neither based on successful experience in a similar context nor on a study of the local species."
Fish are a staple of the diet in Laos and Cambodia, with around 80% of the Cambodian population's annual protein intake coming from fish caught in the Mekong River system, with no alternative source to replace it. An MRC report claims that dam projects on the Mekong River will reduce aquatic life by 40% by 2020, and predicted that 80% of fish will be depleted by 2040. Thailand will be impacted, as its fish stocks in the Mekong will decline by 55%, Laos will be reduced by 50%, Cambodia by 35%, and Vietnam by 30%. Dams would also restrict the flow of water over agricultural areas linked to the river.
Record low water levels in the Mekong in July 2019, normally the rainy season, have led critics to point to the Xaraburi Dam as a contributor to the problem. Xayaburi Power counters that the facility is a run-of-river dam, so outflow from the 514 million cubic metre reservoir equals inflow. The power company claims it cannot share the inflow and outflow levels of the dam as the information is classified in accordance with the company's Lao government contract.
References
External links
MRC nations invited to visit dam
Fish passage principles to be considered for medium and large dams: The case study of a fish passage concept for a hydroelectric power project on the Mekong mainstem in Laos
{{Dams on Mekong River Basin
Dams in the Mekong River Basin
Hydroelectric power stations in Laos
Dams in Laos
Dam controversies
Buildings and structures in Sainyabuli province
Energy infrastructure completed in 2019