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| Fig. 1: Belo Monte Dam in Brazil. (Source: Wikimedia Commons) |
After decades of evaluation, planning, and debate about using Brazils Xingu river for hydroelectric power generation, the Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources authorized the operation license for the Belo Monte Dam, seen in Fig. 1, in 2015. [1] This move came after countless legal battles, large protests disrupting construction, and facing stiff opposition from indigenous groups in the region. Now having been in operation for over 3 years as the world's 4th largest hydroelectric dam complex, one can evaluate the energy output and environmental impact of the dam and compare it to other large hydroelectric projects.
The dam has a full operational capacity of 11,233.1 MW. [2] However, the dam has never operated at that level in any month since its opening. On average, it has operated at only 40% of the its full operational capacity. [2]
As a point of comparison, we can look at the Itaipu Dam in Southern Brazil along the Parana River. It has an operating capacity of 14000 MW. [3] It has historically operated at an average of 77% of its full capacity. [4] This is much greater than Belo Monte.
The Belo Monte dam has been widely criticized for its relatively low energy output and impact on surrounding areas. As early as 2014, activists pointed to reports on climate change that predicted lower precipitation and increased temperatures in the Amazon river basin. [5] The project continued despite concerns about the decreased river flows in tributaries of the Amazon such as the Xingu. These concerns have been validated in the years that the dam has been in construction - with river flow rates falling dramatically. [6] This has led to the low energy outputs seen above and more concerns being voiced about other dam projects in the Amazon basin.
The dam also required 478 square kilometers of rainforest to be submerged under water - a ratio of land flooded to power generation that is half that of the dam at Itaipu. [2] Tribal leaders of the Munduruku, Juruna, Kayapo, Xipaya, Kuruaya, Asurini, Parakana, and Arara people in the Paquiamba indigenous territory fiercely protested the dams construction to no avail with government officials bribing tribes to placate them - often destroying indigenous cultures in the process. [2] The dam is just one of several planned for the Amazon river basin.
The low relative productivity of the Belo Monte dam compared to other large hydroelectric projects around the world raises serious questions about the viability of building hydroelectric power infrastructure in the Amazon basin. The Brazilian government, under pressure from scientists and indigenous activists, has paused its next project: the 8,000MW plant at So Luiz on the Tapajs river, another Amazon tributary. The low efficiency and unfortunate environmental impact of the Belo Monte dam are regrettable decisions from both an economic and social perspective. Future projects in the Amazon river basin should more carefully consider realistic outputs of energy compared to the financial and societal costs of the construction.
© Bikal Sharma. The author warrants that the work is the author's own and that Stanford University provided no input other than typesetting and referencing guidelines. The author grants permission to copy, distribute and display this work in unaltered form, with attribution to the author, for noncommercial purposes only. All other rights, including commercial rights, are reserved to the author.
[1] E. Atkins, "Dammed and Diversionary: The Multi-Dimensional Framing of Brazil's Belo Monte Dam," Singap. J. Trop. Geogr. 38, 276 (2017).
[2] J. Watts, "Belo Monte, Brazil: The Tribes Living in the Shadow of a Megadam," The Guardian, 16 Dec 14.
[3] R. Sternberg, "Hydropower's Future, the Environment, and Global Electricity Systems," Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 14, 713 (2010).
[4] M. Luomi, "Sustainable Energy in Brazil: Reversing Past Achievements or Realizing Future Potential," Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, OIES Paper SP 34, August 2014..
[5] M. Llopart et al., "Climate Change Impact on Precipitation For the Amazon and La Plata Basins," Clim. Change 125, 111 (2014).
[6] M. Oliveira e M. Juste, "Belo Monte Será Hiderelétrica Menos Produtive e Mais Cara, Dizem Ténicos," Globo, 22 Apr 10 ["Belo Monte Will Be a Less Productive and More Expensive Hydroelectric Plant, Say Technicians"].
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