Do all those hydro-electric dams actually provide energy?

[Chirimoya]

There are a good number of impressive hydro-electric dams dotted around the Dominican Republic, costing megabucks, probably courtesy of the World Bank and such like, and inaugurated with great song and dance by whoever happens to be President when their construction is finally completed.

My question is - do these things actually provide any much-needed electric power for the country, or are they - as I always suspected - white elephants which only serve to provide the contractors who built them and the officials who awarded the contracts with large amounts of dosh?

Chiri

[deelt]

The plants can work if and when there is WATER in the river....this is what I was refering to when I mentioned the issue of water resources...

Originally Posted by Chirimoya

There are a good number of impressive hydro-electric dams dotted around the Dominican Republic, costing megabucks, probably courtesy of the World Bank and such like, and inaugurated with great song and dance by whoever happens to be President when their construction is finally completed.

My question is - do these things actually provide any much-needed electric power for the country, or are they - as I always suspected - white elephants which only serve to provide the contractors who built them and the officials who awarded the contracts with large amounts of dosh?

Chiri

[samiam]

As I understand they provide between 15-20% of power supplied to the grid.......if and when there is water!

[chuckuindy]

Any one have any more information of this?

http://web.worldbank.org/external/pr...jectid=P082715

http://web.worldbank.org/external/pr...jectid=P085433

I would like to know if any of thes funds have been put to work yet.

Charlie

[Keith R]

My understanding has always been that none of those dams ever work at anywhere near full capacity, which is one of the reasons why some of them were advised not to be built in the first place...

[Hillbilly]

Original poster: Chirimoya. Yes Virginia, they do provide power to the grid. As much as 225 MW.

BUT that is only part of what they could provide, since as someone pointed out they are not producing as much as possible.

So, there was a project from Venezuelan technicians to rebuild and repair all of the dams. It was only for about $12=$15 million, financed by a Mexican bank because a lot of the parts and repair personnel would be coming from Mexico.

In the middle of all of this I saw a "News item" in the press that said that technicians from the DR (and the PRD government management, of course) had repaired all of the hydro stations. So I called my Venezuelan friend to alert him on this and have not heard back from him in months. My thought is that the project was sabotaged by local, jealous folk. The hydro dams were initially built by Balaguer, many without international funding. Tavera Dam was built, in part, with local telethons and personal contributions. I am not sure, but I think that Valdesia (nearly destroyed in 1979) was also done with DR funding.

Be interesting to see if I can find my buddy and ask him what's up.

HB