ENVIRONMENT-JAPAN: Small Hydroelectric Dams Fill Clean Energy Gap

By Suvendrini Kakuchi Reprint | | Print |

Suvendrini Kakuchi

TOKYO, Jun 7 2004 (IPS) - Amid the serene green rice fields of Kuroitsu village, in northern Japan, rises the gurgling sound of a small, man-made waterfall that powers the blades of a steel waterwheel to churn out electricity.

The farmers in this village, located in the rice growing area of Tochigi prefecture, have opted for a non-polluting and environmentally friendly option in the form of a small hydropower dam project to meet the energy needs of their farms. The village project, still in its pilot one-year stage, is pioneered by the leading utility company, Jpower, and supported by the Japanese government.

Tokyo wants to promote the use of alternative energy, and reduce Japan’s dependence on fossil fuels, as part the country’s commitment to the Kyoto Protocol, an international agreement signed in 1997 to reduce human contribution to climate change.

The protocol requires industrialised countries to cut emissions of gases that many scientists believe are warming the atmosphere, chiefly carbon dioxide that is emitted from the burning of fossil fuels.

” We consider this device as a vital development,” says Hiroyuki Eizure, head of the Union of the Nasunoohara Land Improvement Districts, a conglomeration of local farmers in the village.

” This small hydropower (project) will improve efficiency by helping us save on energy bills and also protect the environment,” he told IPS.

Eizure, a rice producer, says the union, comprising 3,500 farmers, hit upon the idea of investigating hydropower energy following their rising dissatisfaction with large and expensive dams built in the countryside.

” Farmers in Japan are turning away from expensive public work schemes such as large dams, because we can no longer afford to pay for them. As well, we are realising that big dams can do serious damage to the environment,” he explains.

Indeed, since 1996, the central government has scrapped plans for 92 large dams of which 72 were deemed unnecessary, according to media reports here.

While large dams are a source of hydroelectricity, supply drinking water to cities and assist in river navigation, the environmental price, however, is a large one to pay.

The highly controversial Nagara River Estuary Dam, built in 1995, was opposed by many Japanese and sparked a process of rethinking the country’s management of rivers.

The dam has, according to many nearby residents, changed lives for the worse. Fishing grounds have been altered, and traditional businesses affected. Environmentalists also have decried the project as harmful to neighbouring wetlands.

Officials, now, are keen on small hydropower dams that do not cause environmental damage and plan to start about 10,000 such plants across the country.

Each plant is expected to produce, in a second, about 30 kilowatts of electricity, which is enough to meet the energy requirements of up to 50 households.

Satoshi Masui, the spokesman for Jpower company, says the new hydroelectric plants are major developments in Japan’s efforts to seek alternatives when it is currently struggling to control rising levels of energy consumption.

” Employing small hydropower dams is already proving to be an efficient source of alternative energy,” he says.

Adds Masui: ”If the project continues to go well as it is doing now, the government will be able to incorporate small dams as a major alternative source of energy and reduce Japan’s carbon dioxide emissions.”

For Japan, the race to seek alternative energy sources is more important than ever as it comes under increasing international criticism for being slack in its commitment to the Kyoto Protocol.

According to the government’s Global Warming Prevention Headquarters, carbon dioxide emissions in Japan during 2002 increased 2.2 percent from the previous year.

The Kyoto Protocol obliges Japan to cut emissions by 6 percent from the level in 1990. Instead, however, according to government figures, they have increased 7.6 percent from 1990.

In April, the government warned that unless new technologies are created utilising renewable energy resources, Japan’s use of fossil fuels would continue to rise for the next decade.

The government has set a goal that by 2010, 1.3 percent of its energy production would be from renewable energy sources. Currently, the figure is less than 1 percent.

While conservationists applaud this move, they also point out that the government is advocating the risky option of nuclear power to realise the 2010 target.

The safety of nuclear power plants in Japan is currently under question following several serious accidents recently.

”Emphasising nuclear power as a clean energy source to reduce CO2 emissions is disturbing. It actually means other alternatives go on the backburner,” says conservation expert Yurika Ayukawa of World Wild Life Fund, Japan.

Stresses Ayukawa: ”Japan’s abundant sources of water and solar power comprise the most important renewable energies.”

But a major constraint is the high costs involved in setting up alternative technology projects, a barrier that conservationists say lie in the lack of government subsidies to promote better research.

The argument against small hydroelectric dams is the large capital outlay required by the schemes.

Even for isolated towns where fuel supply is difficult and expensive, planers prefer to install diesel units or grid connection instead of a small hydroelectric plant.

” Of course, users prefer the motto, cheaper is better,” says Jpower’s Masui, referring to the new hydropower plant being used in Kuroitsu.

Declining to reveal the cost of the scheme, Masui says the test project will balance the merits and sale of electricity produced by the hydroelectric plant against the set-up costs.