(April 7, 2009) In the name of cheap power, Thailand’s electric utility has joined forces with its Burmese counterpart to build a large hydroelectric dam near the Thai border, where the Burmese army has waged war against ethnic minorities for decades.

The Nation newspaper reported (March 21) that the state owned Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) is preparing to sign an agreement this month in Burma to establish a dam-building venture with Burma’s Ministry of Electric Power and China’s largest dam builder, Sinohydro Corporation.

The EGAT-led venture plans to build a 1400-MW hydropower dam on Burma’s Salween River and sell its power output to EGAT, Thailand’s electricity monopoly.

The Salween (called Nu in China) is one of Asia’s great Himalayan rivers, winding 2,736 kilometres through China, Burma (also known as Myanmar), and Thailand, before reaching the Andaman Sea.

Recent public opposition to damming the Nu River in China, and to dam building in Thailand, has prompted both EGAT and China’s Sinohydro to step up plans for the Salween, where local communities are all but powerless to defend their interests.

China has agreed to finance the US$1.4 billion project, which is expected to generate a 19 percent return for the three-way venture. EGAT will hold a 45 percent stake, with Sinohydro holding 40 percent and the Burmese government holding 15 percent.

EGAT intends to buy the dam’s output for the low price of 4.5 US cents per kilowatt-hour and sell it to its captive ratepayers in Thailand.

If completed, the Hatgyi dam will flood thousands of ethnic Karen off their land, forcing them into makeshift refugee camps along the Thai-Burma border, where an estimated 120,000 people already languish with little hope of returning to their homeland.

Local observers say the Salween dams provide Burma’s military-run government with the perfect justification to flood and divide ethnic minority strongholds in eastern Burma.

As for Thailand’s rationale, the real motive may be the water stored behind the dam. Thai water authorities have long envisioned diverting water from the pristine Salween into the drought-prone Chao Phraya River, which feeds central Thailand and the nation’s capital.

Building a large reservoir on the Salween would be the first step.
Thailand certainly doesn’t need the power from Hatgyi. Scores of small and renewable power producers are lining up at home to supply the Thai grid with less environmentally damaging and competitively-priced power.

Numerous studies have shown that Thailand could reliably and affordably meet its future electricity needs by encouraging investment in decentralized generating technologies and energy-saving investments.

Unlike big hydro dams, which require extraordinary amounts of capital and take years to build, decentralized power plants (typically under 50 MW) are mass produced so they can be quickly and cheaply installed where power is needed, without requiring expensive long distance transmission lines.

The problem isn’t a lack of alternatives to Hatgyi. The problem is EGAT’s monopoly: the utility owns about half the country’s electricity generating capacity and the entire transmission network, which means EGAT effectively decides who can generate electricity in Thailand, how much, where, using which technologies, and at what cost. Would-be competitors have zero or very restricted access to the grid. Most of the country’s planned power supply expansion is reserved for EGAT’s large-scale generation and transmission projects, including hydro imports from Burma.

Grainne Ryder, Probe International, April 7, 2009