Belo Monte hydroelectric power station
Map with all coordinates: | Belo Monte hydroelectric power station | |||
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| location | |||
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| Coordinates | 3 ° 7 '27 " S , 51 ° 42' 1" W | ||
| country | Brazil | ||
| Waters | Rio Xingu | ||
| Data | |||
| Type | Storage power plant | ||
| Primary energy | Hydropower | ||
| power | approx. 11,000 megawatts | ||
| owner | Norte Energia, SA | ||
| operator | Eletronorte / Eletrobrás | ||
| Project start | June 21, 2011 | ||
| Start of operations | 5th May 2016 | ||
| turbine | 20 × 550 MW Francis turbines (Belo Monte) + 9 × 25.9 MW bulb turbines (Pimental) |
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| Website | www.aneel.gov.br | ||
| was standing | under construction | ||
The Belo Monte hydropower plant ( Portuguese Aproveitamento Hidrelétrica AHE , Hydroelectric Use ) is a major project that is partially under construction to generate electrical energy from hydropower on the Rio Xingu , an important tributary of the Amazon in Brazil . It is located 40 km downstream from Altamira .
The river is to be dammed up via three dams to form two reservoirs with a total area of around 516 km², roughly the size of Lake Constance , currently partly arable land and partly rainforest . According to official information, around 20,000 people will have to be resettled. Dam opponents - affected indigenous peoples and environmental groups - speak of up to 40,000 people.
After its completion, the integrated hydropower plant , with an installed capacity of more than 11 gigawatts, will become the fourth largest hydropower plant in the world . Construction costs are estimated at $ 11 billion .
Since the first building permit was granted at the beginning of 2011, the project has been temporarily stopped three times by court decisions and has since been restarted. As of November 2013, construction was again prohibited.
The first turbines were officially put into operation on May 5, 2016 in the presence of President Dilma Rousseff . The power plant was completed in November 2019.
Project participants
The AHE project is being promoted by the Brazilian government (the Ministry of the Environment , the Mining and Energy Ministry ), the National Electrical Energy Agency (ANEEL) and the two large state power supply groups Eletronorte and Eletrobrás .
For the construction, operators and investors have joined forces to form the Norte Energia SA consortium . Various state and private companies as well as Brazilian pension funds belong to the consortium, 49.98% of the shares are owned by Eletrobrás.
The European companies involved include Alstom , Andritz , Voith and Siemens as suppliers . Münchener Rückversicherungsgesellschaft Münchener Rück insures the project.
Development history
There were plans to do this since the mid-1970s. Initially, the project was planned to be much larger; the reservoir was to be about 2000 km² and also dammed up the tributary Rio Bacajá . At the end of the 1980s, the plans were initially more specific, but then put on hold for the time being because of resistance from environmentalists and indigenous people. The World Bank initially withdrew a loan that had already been committed, but is now involved in the project again with its subsidiary IFC . Under Lula da Silva , President in the calendar years 2003 to 2010, planning was resumed in a significantly reduced form as part of the “Program for Accelerated Growth” (Programa de Aceleração do Crescimento - PAC) .
In February 2010, the Minister for the Environment of Brazil, Carlos Minc , announced the short-term granting of the environmental building permit. The operator must meet extensive requirements and take compensatory and compensation measures for the interference with nature and the resettlement of residents.
In April 2010 the Norte Energia SA consortium was awarded the contract to use the hydropower project. On August 26, 2010, Lula da Silva signed the concession agreement , the term is 35 years.
On January 26, 2011, the Brazilian environmental authority IBAMA issued a partial building permit for the dam. This extends to the first construction measures, including the clearing of 238 hectares of rainforest, as well as the start of leveling work and the construction of access roads and storage areas. A temporary construction stop due to non-compliance with environmental regulations was lifted on March 3, 2011 by the Brazilian Federal Court.
At the end of September 2011, a Brazilian court again imposed a temporary freeze on construction because of the impairment of fishing for the indigenous people living in the area of influence. However, just three months later, in December 2011, the same judge revised his decision on the grounds that the expected effects of the dam on the environment were not as serious as he had assumed when he ordered the construction freeze. However, he admitted that a final assessment is only possible after completion. In November 2012, the construction work was interrupted by violent labor disputes and since October 31, 2013, the construction work has been interrupted by another court order.
Suspensão de Segurança
By means of a legal structure from 1964, the so-called "Suspensäo de Segurança" act (suspension for security reasons), installed at the time of the military dictatorship , court decisions are due to an "alleged danger" and if there are "serious violations of order, security, health and the public economy ”, unilaterally repealed.
Geography and structures
The planned reservoir is to be built near the city of Altamira in the state of Pará . From Altamira downstream to Vitória do Xingu, the Xingu draws a wide loop of about 100 km in length with a slight gradient. By damming and with the help of two canals, an artificial breakthrough through this loop - a kind of “shortcut” - with an increased gradient is to be created. This height of fall , 89.3 meters, is to be used to generate electricity.
The Belo Monte power plant is located directly on the BR-230 national road, the Rodovia Transamazônica , which crosses the Xingu to the east of the power plant.
Three dams are to be built to dam the Xingu :
Pimental dam (Xingu reservoir)
The Pimental dam on the island of Pimental about 30 km southeast of Altamira ( 3 ° 24 ′ 3.7 ″ S , 51 ° 57 ′ 5.8 ″ W ) blocks the main course of the Xingu. As a result, the river bed is dammed up to about 50 km above Altamira to the Xingu reservoir (Reservatório Xingu) with an area of more than 200 km². Parts of the city of Altamira are also flooded.
At around 6 km, the Pimental dam is by far the longest of the three dams. It also contains a power plant, but with an installed capacity of only 233 MW (9 bulb turbines of 25.9 MW each), it is negligibly small compared to the main power plant mentioned below.
Two diversion canals (Canais de Derivação) branch off from the Xingu reservoir above the Pimental dam , which divert the water of the Xingu through the hilly country east of Altamira to the second large reservoir, the canal reservoir (Reservatório dos Canais) .
Bela Vista dam (canal reservoir)
The Bela Vista dam , about half the length of the Xingu loop ( 3 ° 19 ′ 47 ″ S , 51 ° 45 ′ 38.6 ″ W ), blocks a side valley of the canal reservoir and thus ensures that the reservoir does not runs sideways into the bed of the Xingu.
The Bela Vista dam does not contain any turbines to generate electricity.
Belo Monte dam and power plant (canal reservoir)
The main power plant of the project is to be built near the small town of Belo Monte on the banks of the Xingu ( 3 ° 8 ′ 8.6 ″ S , 51 ° 46 ′ 23.1 ″ W ). 20 Francis turbines with a capacity of 550 MW each are to be installed in the machine house.
After its completion, the power plant is expected to be the third-largest power plant in the world with 11 GW, after the power plant on the Three Gorges Dam in China with 18.3 GW and the Itaipú power plant on the border between Paraguay and Brazil with 14 GW. The power plant is supposed to cover around 11% of the Brazilian electricity demand.
criticism
The project has been accompanied by massive protests since the 1980s, which at the end of the 1980s led international donors such as the World Bank to withdraw and the project temporarily stopped. Sting , James Cameron and other celebrities publicly support the protest. It is also criticized by well - known non-governmental organizations and activists for environmental protection, development aid, sustainability and human rights.
The criticism primarily concerns the effects on nature and the environment through the flooding of around 516 km² of arable land and valuable rainforest, as well as the planned resettlement of people, including indigenous people. The electricity generated does not primarily serve the people in the region, but primarily the energy-intensive coal and steel industry .
In addition, state funding is criticized and economic efficiency is questioned.
Environment and nature protection
Environmentalists fear that the diversion and damming of the river will seriously interfere with the Xingu ecosystem , especially the fish stocks, the migration and stock of which are hampered by the dams. Various catfish adapted to life in the rapids of the Xingu (including Hypancistrus zebra , Hypancistrus sp. And many more), rheophilic tetras , cichlids and still unexplored species in the rapids and other habitats are acutely threatened with extinction. Hundreds of species are affected, many of them endemic .
Displacement of the indigenous population
According to critics, up to 40,000 people will be displaced by the dam and the project is threatening the livelihoods of indigenous people from 18 different ethnic groups.
Although none of the reservations of the Brazilian indigenous people is directly affected by area flooding or resettlement, various tribes from the group of Xingu Indios are indirectly affected by the change in the river, their livelihood. Particularly noteworthy here are the Juruna , whose tribal area Paquiçamba lies below the Pimental dam , where the Xingu will carry significantly less water after it is built.
The dam poses a survival risk, especially for the uncontacted indigenous people of Brazil, as they probably have weak defenses against diseases such as flu. The immigration of workers and settlers into the area would greatly increase the risk of infection. The Indios are to be compensated for their victims with 1.5 billion R $ (570 million €). However, the credibility of this announcement has been questioned by critics, citing past promises not kept.
In 2010 the Canadian director James Cameron visited the Juruna, Xipaia and Xikrin Kayapó, who oppose the resettlement of 12,000 residents and the destruction of their culture. British rock singer Sting and American actress Sigourney Weaver are other prominent artists who support the indigenous people. Sting had already supported the protest against the project in 1989.
The German filmmaker Martin Keßler published a video of 10 minutes in length in 2011 in which he reported on the resistance to the project and conducted interviews with the winner of the alternative Nobel Prize, Bishop Dom Erwin Kräutler , among others . The title of the video is Countdown on the Xingu .
In January 2011, the environmental authorities gave their permission to build the dam, and indigenous peoples protested against the construction in the capital Brasília in early February . On August 14, 2012, Judge Souza Prudente imposed the construction freeze at the request of the state of Pará . The operating company Norte Energía has violated the Brazilian law by not consulting the affected indigenous population before the start of construction and providing sufficient information about the consequences. Many environmental organizations and human rights activists protested against the construction, including the organization Rettet den Regenwald e. V., Avaaz and Amazon Watch. However, the operating company can appeal against the current ruling before the Supreme Court.
Individual evidence
- ^ Judge Allows Start of Bids on Controversial Brazil Dam, BBC Online, April 17, 2010.
- ↑ http://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2011/04/28/brazils-vale-joins-avatar-battle-as-belo-monte-dam-investor/
- ↑ a b c n-tv.de: 20,000 people have to give way. Giant dam for Brazil (accessed on February 2, 2010.)
- ↑ a b Bernd Schröder hydropower plant Belo Monte, May 28, 2006, online at heise.de. (Retrieved February 2, 2010.)
- ↑ a b c Wirtschaftsblatt : Brazil: Construction freeze for Belo Monte lifted by court, ( Memento from March 20, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) December 17, 2011.
- ↑ Basler Zeitung: Brazil is building the third largest reservoir in the world .
- ↑ a b ORF.at: Construction freeze for mega dam in Brazil
- ↑ amerika21.de, accessed on November 12, 2013.
- ↑ Brazil puts controversial mega power plant into operation . Spiegel Online, May 6, 2016.
- ↑ UHE Belo Monte ( Memento of December 24, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ http://www.eletrobras.com/elb/mundo//data/Pages/LUMIS46763BB8PTBRIE.htm
- ^ A b The Rio Times: Belo Monte Dam Bid Won, ( Memento of May 3, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) April 27, 2010.
- ↑ http://blogs.taz.de/latinorama/2013/05/17/weltbankt Nahrungsmittel-ifc-und-der-staudamm-belo-monte /
- ↑ The standard : giant dam divides Amazonia
- ↑ Die Presse : Construction of a mega power plant in the Amazon region, August 27, 2010.
- ↑ http://www.survivalinternational.de/nachrichten/6961
- ↑ The start of the construction of the mega-dam. In: Focus. January 27, 2011, accessed January 30, 2011 .
- ↑ Die Presse: Amazonas power plant: Court lifts construction freeze, March 4, 2011.
- ↑ Reuters : Labor Violence Halts Work on Brazil's Belo Monte Dam .
- ^ "Porque a Justiça nicht consegue decidir sobre o caso de Belo Monte" , Instituto Socioambiental, November 4, 2013
- ↑ Brasil é criticado na OEA por abuso de direitos Greenpeace Brasil , posted on March 28, 2014
- ↑ http://www.pro-regenwald.de/belomonte
- ↑ Article in Amazonas magazine ( Memento from September 3, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Xingu Vivo para Semper ( Memento from August 24, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) (Portuguese)
- ↑ internationalrivers.org
- ^ Platform Belo Monte: Solidarity with the people on the Xingu .
- ↑ telmadmonteiro.blogspot.com
- ↑ a b Society for Threatened Peoples V. ( Memento of March 8, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ a b avaaz.org signature collection of the campaign platform Avaaz
- Jump up ↑ The River Before the Shift in Spectrum of Science , March 2016
- ^ "Belo Monte" dam project in Brazil - Indigenous peoples and Amazon rainforest in danger ( Memento from December 30, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ James Cameron, in real life, fights to save indigenous groups from massive dam construction in Brazil. In: Mongabay. April 1, 2010.
- ^ Tribes of Amazon Find an Ally Out of “Avatar”. In: New York Times. April 10, 2010.
- ↑ Die Presse: Celebrities fight against super dam
- ↑ Brazil: Indigenous Tribes Protest Against Amazon Dam, in: BBC News, February 8, 2011.
- ↑ http://www.regenwald.org/erhaben/4564
- ↑ http://www.avaaz.org/en/amazon_under_threat/
- ↑ Stop the Belo Monte Monster Dam ( Memento from January 24, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Giant power plant in the Amazon stopped - Handelsblatt, August 15, 2012.
Web links
- official information video on YouTube.com (Portuguese)
- official information video on eletrobras.com (WMV, English)
- Hydropower as the central pillar of a »green economy«. Contradictions of the Brazilian development path, in: Analysis & Criticism, December 16, 2011.
