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Chile:
Hydroelectricity at a Price
Protest against dams along the Baker River
in Chilean Patagonia. Coalición Ciudadana por AYSÉN,
Reserva de Vida
By
Benjamin Witte
Energy companies eye southern Chilean region for massive hydroelectric
project.
The pristine Aysen region of northern Patagonia,
in many ways Chile’s last frontier, boasts some of
the only remaining virgin wilderness left on the planet.
The verdant region is home to unique flora and fauna, including
the endangered huemul, a species of deer indigenous to the
southern Andeans, the Chilean pine known as Monkey Puzzle,
and Alerces, a South American cousin of the Redwood.
Aysen is also home to some of Chile’s most voluminous
rivers, and those powerful, glacier-fed waterways represent
a windfall of potential electricity and profits, the country’s
largest utility company — Spanish-owned Endesa — calculates.
Endesa has been contemplating plans to dam the region’s
rivers for the past 40 years.
Gas supply uncertain
Much of the country’s electricity is generated using
natural gas. In the past few years, however, Argentina — Chile’s
principal natural gas provider — has restricted supply.
And, with electricity consumption growing at the alarming rate
of almost 7 percent each year, Endesa says the time is right
to begin tapping Aysen’s vast water resources.
Working in collaboration with a private Chilean
energy company called Colbún, Endesa is advancing
on its so-called Aysen Project.
By far the biggest hydroelectric venture in
the country’s
history, the Aysen Project consists of a US$4 billion-plan
for two dams on each of the region’s two largest rivers:
the Baker and the Pascua.
The dams are expected to produce an estimated 2,400 megawatts,
equivalent to about 30 percent of the energy currently available
in central Chile.
Endesa and Colbún, operating through
a specially created joint entity called HidroAysen, insist
the project is both
necessary and sound. The dams promise to free Chile from its
vulnerability to ongoing shortages of Argentine natural gas.
The Baker and Pascua rivers represent not only a clean and
renewable source of energy, but one that is consistent as well,
according to HidroAysen.
The project, nevertheless, has its critics. What began as
a local coalition of Region XI-based activists, environmentalists,
business owners and church leaders has taken on a high-profile,
international aspect since the influential US-based Natural
Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and celebrities such as Beto
Cuevas, former frontman of the Chilean rock group La Ley, joined
the opposition.
“Over the last few months I’ve seen that the interest
in Patagonia and in this campaign has really grown. I believe
that it could be over time one of the largest environmental
campaigns in history,” NRDC International Program Director
Jacob Scherr told reporters during a recent visit to Chile. “It’s
symbolic of what the entire planet is facing, which is getting
the energy we need to develop but also trying to protect the
planet from the threat of global warming.”
The Aysen Project would be environmentally
devastating for the pristine region, say opponents. Not only
does the plan
involve flooding approximately 93 square kilometers (37 square
miles) of wilderness, but it also calls for construction of
a 2,000-kilometer (1,250-mile) transmission line — the
world’s longest — that would literally cut through
huge tracts of protected wilderness.
Other projects in the works
And the project would be just the tip of the iceberg, activists
fear. Once the infrastructure is in place other large ventures
such as hydroelectricity and mining projects are sure to
follow. Indeed, a Swiss mining company called Xstrata — formerly
Falconbridge — is also planning to construct a large
dam in the area.
“These projects are immense, on a scale that is absolutely
unmanageable for this region. They’re unmanageable because
this region is very fragile, ecologically, geologically as
well as culturally,” says Peter Hartmann, a Coyhaique
(Region XI) resident and leading member of broad-based group
called the Citizen Coalition for Aysen Life Reserve.
The Coalition and its allies in Santiago and
abroad are aware of Chile’s growing electricity needs but insist there
are numerous — and as of yet overlooked — alternatives
to large-scale hydroelectric dams.
One obvious option is conservation. John Wilson,
a councilor for the State of California’s Energy Commission,
Chile would do well to follow an example set three decades
ago by
California.
In the early 1970s California — like Chile — saw
its demand for electricity increase between 6 and 7 percent
annually. By imposing strict efficiency standards, however,
the state was eventually able to reduce that figure to 2 percent,
even during a period of sustained economic growth, according
to Wilson.
“In Chile, absolutely nothing has yet been done in that
respect,” says Juan Pablo Orrego, head of a Santiago-based
organization called Ecosistemas. Instead, Chile has simply
followed a policy that’s been “imposed” by
the country’s private energy companies — particularly
Endesa and Colbún — he explains.
“This has blocked out development of energy sources
that are friendlier and more respectful to both the environment
and the people, such as much smaller hydroelectric plants,
which have the potential of producing thousands of megawatts.
Of course there’s also the geothermal option, of which
nothing has been developed despite the fact we’re in
a geothermal zone,” says Orrego.
Before moving ahead with the Project, HidroAysén must
first gain approval from Chile’s Environmental Commission,
or CONAMA. The joint entity is expected to hand CONAMA a requisite
environmental impact study later this year and possibly begin
construction on the first of the four dams as early as 2008.
In the meantime, opponents are hoping their
campaign continues to gain momentum, as well as the attention
of the Chilean government. “Unless
the government of Chile steps up and pardons Patagonia, the
area will be electrocuted, it will be destroyed,” warns
the NRDC’s Scherr.
Benjamin
Witte is a jornalist and writes for varios media
in Chile. Petroleumworld
not necessarily share these views.
Editor's
Note:This article was published by Latinamerica Press, May
2, 2007. The authors wish to acknowledge the contributions
of Sheila
Bonini; Colin le Duc, the head of research at Generation; and
Lila Preston, an associate at Generation. Petroleumworld reprint
this article in the interest of our readers.
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