Groups want large hydro disqualified as renewable

BERKELEY, California, US, 2004-06-16 Refocus Weekly A declaration calling for large hydropower to be excluded as a renewable energy has been endorsed by 260 groups in 62 countries.

The declaration was developed by International Rivers Network and released at the renewable energy conference in Germany earlier this month. It says there are twelve reasons to exclude large hydro from renewable energy initiatives.

“The 260 groups that have endorsed this declaration are saying no to the large hydro lobby’s attempts to hijack concern over poverty and climate change to promote their destructive technology,” says Patrick McCully of IRN. “Ensuring that large hydro is barred from support under any initiatives announced in Bonn is key to the success of the conference in boosting the global spread of clean and renewable energy.”

Funds allocated to reduce environmental impacts of energy and to increase energy security should be used to promote modern biomass, geothermal, wind, solar, marine energy and small hydro sites that are less than 10 MW capacity, says the declaration. It explains that the recommendations are in line with an earlier report from the World Commission on Dams.

“Large hydro does not have the poverty reduction benefits of decentralized renewables,” and including large hydro in funding initiatives would crowd out funds for new renewables,” it explains. Promoters of large hydro “regularly underestimate costs and exaggerate benefits” and their projects have “major social and ecological impacts.”

Efforts to mitigate the impacts of large hydro typically fail and large reservoirs “can emit significant amounts” of GHG, while large hydro is “slow, lumpy, inflexible and getting more expensive,” with large hydro plants taking six years to build, while “wind turbines and solar panels can start delivering benefits and repaying loans within months of entering construction.” Many countries are already over-dependent on hydropower and large hydro reservoirs are often rendered non-renewable by sedimentation.

IRN says dams can be important emitters of GHG and that climate change will have significant impacts on the safety and performance of dams. Hydropower lobbyists promote dams as ‘climate-friendly’ in the hope that the “potentially huge sums of money to be generated through carbon trading” will give their industry a boost.

“A growing body of evidence indicates that dams and reservoirs are globally significant sources of emissions” of CO2 and methane, and field studies at 30 reservoirs found GHG emissions at all. A changing climate also holds “major implications” for the safety and performance of dams, with increased droughts reducing hydro generation and water storage, while increased floods threaten dam safety and may increase reservoir sedimentation.

The report, “Twelve Reasons to Exclude Large Hydro from Renewables Initiatives,” was published by IRN with Friends of the Earth International, Oxfam America, and a number of other groups.


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