The Chalillo Dam is a gravity dam on the Macal River about 33 km (21 mi) south of San Ignacio in Cayo District, Belize. [3] [4] Chalillo Dam's maximum capacity is 7.0 MW. [1] [2] The dam was constructed by Sinohydro of Beijing, China between 2002 and 2005 with the primary purpose of hydroelectric power production. [5] The project budget was approximately US 30 million. Its construction generated controversy over its effect on the surrounding rain forest.
Two smaller dams, the Mollejon and Vaca, are downstream from the Chalillo Dam. The Mollejon has a capacity of 25.2 MW and the Vaca has a capacity of 19 MW. The three dams together meet approximately 40% of Belize's energy needs. [6] [7] All three dams are operated by Fortis Belize (formerly Belize Electric Company Limited). [7]
Chalillo Hydroelectric Dam is situated in the westernmost part of the country where the Macal River converges with the Raspaculo River. It is located in the Maya Mountains and shares adjacency with the Chiquibul National Park and the Pine Ridge Forest Reserve. Positioning Chalillo Hydroelectric Dam approximately 16 kilometers from the Guatemalan border.
The primary purpose of Chalillo Hydroelectric Dam is to impound the water in the 46m storage dam during the rainy season and release during shortage. [8] At the base of the dam, through a low level valve, water is released during the dry period. Basically, water is carried from the dam downstream to the powerhouse which protects the generating Kaplan turbines. Subsequent to powering the electric turbines, the water drifts back into the Macal River through the tailrace channel and back to its natural route towards its sister facility, Mollejon hydroelectric power plant.
All necessary equipment and controls required for the production of power is contained in the Power House. The circular steel pen stock which is about 80 meters in length and 2.4 meters in diameter facilitates the transport of water from the dam to the power plant. The Kaplan turbine generators equipped with adjustable blades, modern electronic and hydraulic systems help in the production of power. Subsequently, the power is delivered through the 115Kv line which is interconnected to Mollejon switchyard. Power is then distributed to BEL's grid via Mollejon.
The Chalillo Dam has been controversial since its inception and has been the subject of multiple lawsuits. [4] [9] Most of the controversy surrounding the dam concerns its impact on the environment, specifically on the ecosystems of the Macal River and the Chiquibul Forest. As described in a report commissioned as part of the Environmental Impact Assessment for the dam, the area flooded by the dam's reservoir "contains a rare and discrete floral floodplain habitat which acts as both a conduit and critical habitat for resident and non-resident fauna and avifauna." [10] Notably, the area was a nesting site for the endangered northern subspecies of the Scarlet macaw. [10] There have also been concerns about the safety of the dam, as it was built only 550 meters from a fault line. [11] If the dam were to break, it would imperil the downstream town of San Ignacio. [12]
Belizean environmental groups sued to stop the construction of the dam. In their lawsuit, they argued that the Environmental Impact Assessment for the dam was flawed and inadequate. The case was eventually appealed to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, becoming the first environmental case ever heard by that body. In a split 3-2 ruling, the Privy Council discounted the flaws in the EIA and allowed the project to proceed. [9] [13] The fight against the dam was chronicled in the 2009 book The Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw by Bruce Barcott. [4] After the completion of the dam, the Belize Institute of Environmental Law and Policy (BELPO) sued Fortis, alleging the company failed to monitor water quality in the Macal River and did not implement an adequate emergency warning system in case the dam broke. [4]
Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower. Hydropower supplies 14% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and also more than nuclear power. Hydropower can provide large amounts of low-carbon electricity on demand, making it a key element for creating secure and clean electricity supply systems. A hydroelectric power station that has a dam and reservoir is a flexible source, since the amount of electricity produced can be increased or decreased in seconds or minutes in response to varying electricity demand. Once a hydroelectric complex is constructed, it produces no direct waste, and almost always emits considerably less greenhouse gas than fossil fuel-powered energy plants. However, when constructed in lowland rainforest areas, where part of the forest is inundated, substantial amounts of greenhouse gases may be emitted.
Fortis Inc. is a St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador-based international diversified electric utility holding company. It operates in Canada, the United States, Central America, and the Caribbean. In 2015, it earned CA$6.7 billion.
The Nam Theun 2 Hydropower Project, or simply NT2, is a hydroelectric dam on the Nam Theun River in Laos. Commercial operation of the plant began in April 2010. The scheme diverts water from the Nam Theun, a tributary of the Mekong River, to the Xe Bang Fai River, enabling a generation capacity of 1,075 MW, from a 350 m (1,148 ft) difference in elevation between the reservoir and the power station.
The Macal River is a river running through Cayo District in western Belize. Sites along the river include the ancient Mayan town of Cahal Pech and the Belize Botanic Gardens. The Macal River discharges into the Belize River. There are several tributaries to the Macal River including the following streams: Privassion, Rio On, Rio Frio, Mollejon and Cacao Camp.
Ghazi-Barotha Hydropower Project is a 1,450 MW run-of-the-river hydropower, connected to the Indus River. It is located about 10 km (6.2 mi) west of Attock in the Punjab province and east of Haripur in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Construction of the project began in 1995. It consists of five generators, each possessing a maximum power generation capacity of 290 MW. The inauguration of the plant took place on 19 August 2003, presided over by the then President General Pervez Musharraf. It also saw the commissioning of the first two of the five generators i.e. Unit 1 and Unit 2. The last generator was commissioned on 6 April, 2004, and the project was completed by December the same year. It costed US$2.1 billion with funding from Pakistan's Water and Power Development Authority, the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Japan Bank for International Cooperation, Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau, European Investment Bank and Islamic Development Bank.
Gökçekaya Dam is 43 km (27 mi) north of Alpu town 45 km (28 mi) east of province of Eskişehir in central Turkey and located 60 km (37 mi) downstream of Sarıyar Dam on the Sakarya River which runs into the Black Sea. The Yenice Dam is located downstream.
Sharon Matola was an American-born Belizean biologist, environmentalist, and zookeeper. She was the founding director of the Belize Zoo and Tropical Education Center, a zoo which was started in 1983 to protect native animals that had been used in a documentary film in Belize. Matola graduated from New College of Florida in 1981 with a degree in biology.
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 amount of storage, in which case the storage reservoir is referred to as pondage. A plant without pondage is subject to seasonal river flows, so the plant will operate as an intermittent energy source. Conventional hydro uses reservoirs, which regulate water for flood control, dispatchable electrical power, and the provision of fresh water for agriculture.
Chiquibul National Park is Belize's largest national park. It is 1,073 km2 (414 sq mi) in size. The park is located in Belize's Cayo District. The national park surrounds Caracol, a Mayan city. Caracol has been designated as an archaeological reserve and is not included within the park's total area. Chiquibul Forest Reserve is adjacent to the park.
Bruce Barcott is an American editor, environmental journalist and author. He is a contributing editor of Outside and has written articles for The New York Times Magazine, National Geographic, Mother Jones, Sports Illustrated, Harper's Magazine, Legal Affairs, Utne Reader and others. He has also written a number of books, including The Measure of a Mountain: Beauty and Terror on Mount Rainier (1997) and The Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw: One Woman's Fight to Save the World's Most Beautiful Bird (2008). In 2009 he was named a Guggenheim Fellow in nonfiction.
The Upper Kotmale Dam is located in Talawakele, within the Nuwara Eliya District, in the Central Province of Sri Lanka. The dam feeds the third largest hydroelectric power station in the country.
The Longyangxia Dam is a concrete arch-gravity dam at the entrance of the Longyangxia canyon on the Yellow River in Gonghe County, Qinghai Province, China. The dam is 178 metres (584 ft) tall and was built for the purposes of hydroelectric power generation, irrigation, ice control and flood control. The dam supports a 1,280 MW power station with 4 x 320 MW generators that can operate at a maximum capacity of 1400 MW. Controlling ice, the dam controls downstream releases to reservoirs lower in the river, allowing them to generate more power instead of mitigating ice. Water in the dam's 24.7 billion m3 reservoir provides irrigation water for up to 1,000,000 hectares of land.
The Jirau Dam is a rock-fill dam with an asphalt-concrete core, in the Madeira River in the state of Rondônia, Brazil. The dam's hydroelectric power stations have 50 turbines each 75 MW resulting total installed capacity of 3,750 MW. The power plant's first unit was commissioned in September 2013, the 16th in November 2014, 24th in February 2015, the 41st in December 2015, and the last in December 2016. Most of the power is designed to be exported to south-eastern Brazil via the Rio Madeira HVDC system.
The Zimapán Dam, also known as Fernando Hiriart Balderrama Dam, is an arch dam on the Moctezuma River about 15 km (9 mi) southwest of Zimapán in Hidalgo state, Mexico. The primary purpose of the dam is hydroelectric power production and it services a 292 MW power station with water.
The Kootenay Canal is a hydroelectric power station, located 19 km downstream of Nelson, British Columbia, Canada. Where the Kootenay River flows out of the reservoir formed by the Corra Linn Dam on Kootenay Lake., a canal diverts water to BC Hydro's Kootenay Canal Generating Station. Its construction was a result of the Duncan Dam and Libby Dam providing year round flows into Kootenay Lake. The powerhouse was completed in 1976.
The Okutadami Dam (奥只見ダム) is a concrete gravity dam on the Tadami River, 26 km (16 mi) east of Uonuma on the border of Niigata and Fukushima Prefectures, Japan. The primary purpose of the dam is hydroelectric power generation and it supports a 560 MW power station which is the largest conventional hydroelectric power station in Japan. The dam also forms the second largest reservoir in Japan, next to that of the Tokuyama Dam.
The Çetin Dam hydropower dam, on the Botan River in Siirt Province, Turkey, with an installed capacity of 420 MW. It was completed in 2020.
Lakhwar-Vyasi Dam project on Yamuna River, includes under-construction Lakhwar Dam and Power Station, Vyasi Dam, Hathiari Power Station and Katapathar Barrage, near the Lakhwar town in Kalsi block of Dehradun district of Uttarakhand in India, for the purpose of irrigation of 40,000 hectare land and total 927 MW hydroelectric power generation. "Lakhwar Dam" is a gravity dam near the Lohari village with 300MW power generation capacity. "Vyasi Dam" will be built 5 km downstream along with 120 MW "Hathiari Power Station" further 0.5 km downstream. "Katapathar Barrage", with the maximum ponding water level at 514.5m elevation, will be built further 2.75 km downstream of the Hathiari Power Station to supply the water to stakeholder states. Project will hold 580 million cubic metres water during monsoon and release into Yamuna during dry months.
Masinga Hydroelectric Power Station, also Masinga Dam, is an embankment dam on the Tana River, the longest river in Kenya and straddles the border of Embu and Machakos Counties in Eastern Province and is located about 106 km. (66 mi.), by road, northeast of Nairobi, Kenya's capital and largest city. Construction of the dam began in 1978, and was completed in 1981. It is owned by Tana and Athi Rivers Development Authority (TARDA). The dam is used for power production and is part of the Seven Forks Scheme.
The Jatobá Hydroelectric Power Plant is a planned hydroelectric power plant and dam on the Tapajós river in the state of Pará, Brazil. As of 2017 the project was suspended.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)