Hydro standards ‘below par’, study finds

[geovalin]

Jack Davies

Chinese money accounts for the overwhelming majority of investment in Cambodia’s anaemic energy sector, but while the government has been happy to take Beijing’s loans for the construction of hydroelectric plants, a study published last month found that such investment came with both ecological and economic consequences. Taking as a case study the Chinese-built Kamchay hydropower dam in Kampot province, the paper – written by Amsterdam Free University’s Heng Pheakdey – examines the roots and consequences of China’s interest in Cambodia’s underdeveloped electricity generation facilities.

Two-thirds of Cambodia is currently without reliable access to electricity, according to Pheakdey, and a 2009 Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy publication on the future of Cambodian energy production maps out a plan to remedy the shortfall through investment in hydroelectricity, with hydroelectric slated to account for half of all energy output by 2020. The ministry told Pheakdey that Chinese firms have invested more than $1.6 billion in Cambodian energy projects. But the problem, according to Pheakdey, is that many Chinese dams fail to meet international standards, with social and environmental damage often resulting.

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