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💧 In this issue, we’re diving into hydropower! From current innovations to dam good solutions, let’s explore how hydropower can help turn the tide for our planet.

🌊 We’re also thrilled to have an exclusive interview with a distinguished individual who has charted the course from running a country, to now making waves in the world of hydropower: Malcolm Turnbull, Australia’s 29th Prime Minister and now President of the International Hydropower Association. He’s here to pump up hydropower’s untapped potential to channel change toward a greener future in Southeast Asia and beyond. Let’s dive deep and see how hydro can power the future!

🤔 What’s the deal with hydropower?

🌊 Hydroelectric power—hydropower for short—is a way of generating electricity by using the energy of moving water. When water flows, it has kinetic energy: the energy of motion. By channeling this energy through a generator, we can convert it into the electricity that powers our everyday lives.

The basic idea behind hydropower is straightforward…

1.  💧 Water flows from a high place to a low place thanks to the laws of gravity—down a waterfall or through a river, typically leveraging dams which store water and release it through pipes or tunnels that direct the flow through turbines.

2.  🛞 Turbines spin, converting the water’s kinetic energy into mechanical energy.

3. 🔌 Generators transform this mechanical energy into electrical energy, which is either sent to the electric grid (which we discussed at length in issue #36) or even utilized more locally in a modular fashion.

⚙️ People have been harnessing the power of water for thousands of years; for instance, a millennia ago during the Han Dynasty in China, water wheels were used to ground grain, break ore, and produce paper (IHA). Flash forward to our current affairs today: China has moved from leveraging run-of-the-mill solutions during the Han Dynasty to projects like the massive Three Gorges Dam (the world’s largest), which generates around 0.5 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity per day at peak capacity; that’s enough to power over 5 million average Chinese households for a month (Water Power Magazine, 2021).

Hydropower is beneficial because it is (generally-speaking):

1. ♾️ Renewable: As long as rivers flow and rain falls, we’ll have a continuous supply of water to use for energy.

2. 🧼 Clean: Hydropower doesn’t produce carbon dioxide or other pollutants while generating electricity, making it a greener alternative to fossil fuels.

3. ✅ Reliable: Unlike solar or wind, which depend on the weather, hydropower can produce a steady flow of electricity as long as there’s enough water.

In Southeast Asia, hydropower is emerging as an essential solution to meet energy needs while cutting down on fossil fuel use. While the large archipelago nation of Indonesia and the small landlocked country might not seem to have a lot in common beyond being both members of ASEAN, both are investing heavily in hydropower to create a cleaner, greener power grid.

🌏 How does hydroelectric look in Southeast Asia?

⚡ In Southeast Asia, Vietnam, Laos and Indonesia have the highest installed hydropower capacity. While Vietnam is the clear leader ASEAN here, generating about a third of their energy needs from hydropower, Laos in particular punches above its weight; in spite of having a population of only 7.7M (roughly two-thirds the population of Jakarta!) it boasts a whopping 9,756 megawatts (MW) of installed capacity and is gunning to become the “battery of Southeast Asia” by establishing itself as a net energy exporter, primarily to its neighbors Thailand & Vietnam (CNA, 2022).

🏞️ Meanwhile in Indonesia, existing projects like the 67 year old Jatiluhur Reservoir, which—in addition to providing 14,000 liters per second of water per day—has a total installed capacity of 187.5MW (enough to power about 800,000 homes at peak capacity🏠). With climate targets set for net-zero emissions by 2060, the government is ramping up even more hydropower projects as a key solution, eyeing an impressive 72 gigawatts (GW) by that year. Examples include major projects like the Mentarang Induk plant in North Kalimantan, which boasts a whopping 1,375 MW of capacity.🔋Moreover, the archipelago nation is also exploring pumped hydroelectric storage (PHS), which is essentially a way to store energy by moving water uphill when there’s extra power and letting it flow back down to generate electricity when needed. The Upper Cisokan project is paving the way as the country’s first of a kind​ such project.

⚖️ While there’s a lot of potential and corresponding excitement, Southeast Asia still faces the hurdle of balancing the benefits and costs of hydropower. Though hydropower of course has the benefits of being renewable, clean, and reliable, it’s also the case that poorly executed hydropower projects can lead to environmental catastrophes. For instance, in 2018, the collapse of Xe Pian-Xe Namnoy hydropower project in Champassak province killed 71 and displaced 14,400 people (Radio Free Asia, 2022).

📚 Want to learn more about this topic?

1. “2024 World Hydropower Outlook” from IHA

2. “Climate Impacts on South and Southeast Asian Hydropower” from IEA

3. “Efficiency of Renewable Energy Sources in Reducing Carbon Footprint in Developing Countries” from International Journal of Environmental Sciences

📢 Shout-out to the International Hydropower Association!

🌟 The International Hydropower Association (IHA) is a non-profit membership association. They are the global voice for sustainable hydropower. They represent organizations committed to the responsible and sustainable development and operation of hydropower. Operating in over 120 countries, their members include leading hydropower owners and operators, developers, designers, suppliers and consultants.

🩵 Around a third (450 GW) of global installed hydropower capacity is directly managed and operated by the IHA’s membership. Their members share a common purpose: to build a world where the world’s energy and water needs are supported by sustainable hydropower.

🎊 The IHA recently inaugurated their first regional Southeast Asian office in Jakarta, whose event Karina had the privilege to attend and host in September!

🎙️ Interview with Malcolm Turnbull of IHA

💡 ⁠What initially inspired you to focus on climate change and sustainable energy during your political career?

🔦 During my time as Prime Minister of Australia, South Australia faced a black-out due to an over-reliance on solar power. I commissioned the Snowy Hydro 2.0 project in New South Wales to back-up solar and to store it at periods of no sun, including during the night. The lack of back-up to wind and solar power is the ignored crisis within the crisis within the renewables sector, and I plan to continue to highlight this as part of my role with the International Hydropower Association.

🛠️ How is the International Hydropower Association (IHA) actively addressing climate challenges, particularly in Southeast Asia?

📣 The International Hydropower Association (IHA) is the global voice of sustainable hydropower. It is a non-profit membership organization committed to supporting the clean energy transition and net zero goals by 2050. Its mission is to advance sustainable hydropower by building and sharing knowledge on its role in renewable energy systems, responsible freshwater management and climate change solutions.

💡 IHA seeks to achieve this through monitoring and reporting on the hydropower sector, building open, innovative and trusted platforms for knowledge including the award-winning World Hydropower Congress, which we hosted in Bali in 2023, and advancing infrastructure strategies that strengthen performance. 

😲 What is a common misconception about hydropower that you think deserves more attention?

🔌 Hydropower has in the past been the forgotten giant of the renewable energy family. Because it has been around for 100s of years, people sometimes forget it provides a flexible, reliable backbone to the rest of the grid. World leaders are now starting to realize how much investment is needed to maintain grid stability to balance the rapid roll-out of variable renewable energies.

🧲 This is leading to a welcome renaissance of Pumped Storage Hydropower (PSH) globally. In 2023, numerous major PSH projects have been announced in India following policy changes to attract investment in reliability and a PSH target of 27 GW by 2032.

📝 The UK announced on the 10 October the roll out of a cap and floor policy mechanism to support long duration energy storage, including PSH. My own country, Australia, is planning to quadruple firming capacity to 49 GW by 2050 with much of it coming from PSH.

🎬 How can individuals and organizations support the mission of the International Hydropower Association (IHA)? Are there specific initiatives or partnerships you’re seeking?

🤝 You can support IHA in three ways:

💧 1. If you are part of the energy sector involved in hydropower, join IHA as a member: https://www.hydropower.org/join-us 

⚡️ 2. Whenever you hear a conversation going on about renewable energy, make sure hydropower is part of the discussion. Without hydropower you cannot have a clean energy transition.

⏲️ 3. Engage with your government to ensure they are including support for tripling renewables by 2030 in their energy plans. This is what is needed urgently to reach net zero goals. We have the technology. What we lack is time.

🦸🏻 What do you do when you’re not focused on the clean energy transition?

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Outside of being a Director of Upper Hunter Hydro, a renewable energy company I founded with hydro engineer Roger Gill who is a past President of the International Hydropower Association, I enjoy spending time with my wife Lucy, my children and my four grandchildren.

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📧 Also, feel free to let us know what you thought by giving us feedback at [email protected].

🌊 SEA you next time!

Karina & Massimiliano