Women in hydropower |
Never be afraid of a new challenge
IWP&DC spoke with Karen Atkinson, SMEC’s Deputy Chief Operating Officer for South East Asia, who has been elected to the board of the International Hydropower Association in the East Asia and Pacific region
IWP&DC: What does it mean to be elected to the board of the International Hydropower Association? Karen Atkinson: I am passionate about the exciting future of hydropower as a core to the world’s renewable energy solutions and excited that IHA, as the leading industry body, is proactive in shaping conversations within the industry and with critical stakeholder groups who can advance hydro development. As a board member of IHA, my role is to promote
Above: Karen Atkinson, SMEC’s Deputy Chief Operating Officer for South East Asia, is passionate about the exciting future of hydropower as a core to the world’s renewable energy solutions
IHA’s message across Asia Pacific and look for opportunities to connect their work in clean energy, climate, sustainability, finance, modernisation and water, with policy makers, financiers, developers and community groups and NGOs. Hydropower has a huge role to play in the transition
away from fossil fuels as the primary source of large-scale power supply and grid stability, and to complement wind and solar through using pumped storage as a water battery.
Below: SMEC provided various construction services for the 2400MW Bakun and is now working on studies and designs for the 300MW Bakun Dam capacity expansion in Sarawak, Malaysia
IWP&DC: You have over 20 years of experience working within the Asia Pacific region. What are the main opportunities for and the main barriers to hydropower development there? Karen Atkinson: Asia Pacific has an estimated feasible hydropower potential of up to 2777TWh/ year with 1100GW of indicative potential hydropower capacity that is not yet developed and could be a major source of the region’s electricity needs.
There are several barriers to development that need
to be overcome. Hydropower projects have a high initial capital cost to develop and generate revenue over a very long period. Many financiers’ models do not take account of this particular return profile, and the important role that hydro can play in grid stability is not recognised in revenue pricing strategies making it hard to secure financing. The other major barrier is that hydropower projects in the past have been developed without proper consideration of the biodiversity and social impacts that a project can have. This has created a backlash which puts off developers of potential projects. IHA has established sustainability standards that are a global benchmark against which projects can be assessed, and even certified, to demonstrate that these important criteria have been fully considered during the project’s lifecycle.
IWP&DC: What role can SMEC’s Centre of Excellence in Malaysia play in sustainable hydropower development in the region? Karen Atkinson: Our centre of excellence supports many projects, and we always partner collaboratively with our clients to help them develop the best possible project. SMEC’s team can cover the full lifecycle from early-stage feasibility studies in hydrology, geology, and environmental and social impacts, though detailed design of all types of dam and hydropower plants. We support clients with construction supervision and contract management, and at the other end of a project lifecycle also offer dam safety and hydro plant rehabilitation services. Key projects in West Malaysia that the team have been involved in date back to the 1970s when SMEC assisted Tenaga Nasional Berhad with the feasibility study followed by the design and construction of the 400MW Terengganu (Kenyir) Hydropower Project. Subsequently we delivered various services up to the end of construction for the 600MW Pergua HPP, 250MW Hulu Terengganu HPP and the 372MW Ulu Jelai HPP. The 300MW Nenggiri HPP is about to go into construction, and we delivered services on the 210MW Telom HPP and 168MW Tekai HPP. In East Malaysia SMEC has been working for Sarawak Energy and our partnership started with the feasibility study of the 108MW Batang Ai Hydropower Project followed by its design and construction supervision and commissioning in 1985. Various construction services were provided for the 2400MW Bakun HPP and now for the 1285 Baleh HPP and studies and designs for the 150MW Limbang HPP,
8 | January 2022 |
www.waterpowermagazine.com
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