Electrical industry of burma/myanmar

TAPEIN-1 HYDROPOWER PLANT IN KACHIN STATE OFFICIALLY OPENED

NLM, 24/01/11. Adapted. http://www.burmalibrary.org/docs11/NLM2011-01-24.pdf

A ceremony to inaugurate Tarpein-1 hydropower plant was held at the plant in Momauk tsp on 23/01/11. The dam and power station are located on the Tarpein River about thirty miles northeast of Bhamo near old Kalonskha village in Moemauk township. Construction work on the project started on 19/12/07 and the first generator began supplying power on 18/09/10.
The dam has a concrete embankment measuring 672 feet in length and 151 feet in height. Its water storage volume at full tank level is 18162 acre-feet. The other main hydropower structures include two 22-foot-diameter tunnels, each 9770 feet in length, a 23-foot-diameter, 806-foot-long water diversion tunnel, one 59-foot-diameter, 259-foot-high surge tank and a second surge tank, 228 feet high and 59 feet in diameter. There are four penstocks, each 16 feet in diameter and 1010 feet long, while the power plant where four turbine-generators are installed measures 289 feet by 89 feet by 151 feet. The total generating capacity of the plant is 240 MW and it is expected that it will produce approximately 1065 million kWh a year.
Present at the commissioning ceremony were Myanmar's prime minister, U Thein Sein and Chairman Wu Jing of China Datang Overseas Investment Co Ltd (CDOI). The plant will be operated by Datang (Yunnan) United Hydropower Developing Co Ltd (DUHD), a subsidiary of CDOI. Power is being supplied to Bhamo, Mansi, Momauk and Shwegu in southern Kachin state [and to the grid in Yunnan province just across the border in the PRC].
Speaking at the opening, EPM-1 Zaw Min said that his ministry currently has fourteen projects under construction that will have a total generating capacity of 3,337 megawatts, while national entrepreneurs are undertaking nine projects with a capacity of 586 megawatts. Forty-four other projects that will have a generating capacity of 41,545 megawatts are being carried out with the assistance of foreign investors.
[Photos showing the exterior of the power station and switch yard, the control room and the main gate of the dam are included in the print edition of NLM.]
Topographic map references:

China 1:250,000: Series L500, U.S. Army Map: NG 47-13: Lung Ling

Tapein-1 hydropower project is near Kalonkha [Hkalunghko: 24°25' N, 97°31' E], grid square : 38\3, 8\3.

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/ams/china/txu-oclc-10552568-ng47-14.jpg
Burma 1:250,000: Series U542, U.S. Army Map: NG 47-14: Bhamo

The site of Tapein-2 hydropower project is reported to be a few miles downstream from Tapein-1, probably near the village of Kalehkyet [24°21' N, 97°27' E] grid square 38\2, 8\2.

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/ams/burma/txu-oclc-6924198-ng47-13.jpg
Additional references
Data summary: Tapein-1 Tapein-2

See above: ‘China’s infrastructure investment seen as cause of Kachin conflict’ (IRROL: 16/06/11)

See below: ‘China Datang and Shwetaung team up for six hydropower projects’ (NLM: 20/01/11)

‘Datang begins operations at Tapein river hydropower plant’ (Interfax: 03/09/10)

‘Agreement on four hydro projects signed with Datang (Yunnan)’ (PRC Comm: 15/01/10)

'Ministers meet with PRC suppliers in Nanning and Wuhan’ (NLM: 06/11/06)

Xinhua, 16/12/11. Excerpt.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/usa/china/2011-12/16/content_14279772.htm

In October 2008, the six 100MW generation units of Shweli River Hydropower Station, currently the largest BOT hydropower project in Myanmar, were officially connected to China Southern Power Grid and began to supply power to China. In 2010, China Southern Power Grid bought a total of 1.72 billion kilowatt-hours of power from the Shweli River and the Dapein hydropower stations in Myanmar. By the end of August 2011, China had imported a total of 4.868 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity from Myanmar

NLM, 12/08/11. Noted. http://www.burmalibrary.org/docs11/NLM2011-08-13.pdf

Compiler’s note: This edition of NLM contains a very long report of a press conference called by the newly constituted media information unit of the Myanmar government. Over three pages of the print version of the newspaper are filled with a minutely detailed accounting of the government’s version of the breakdown of its relations with the Kachin Independence Organization and efforts to arrange a new and temporary cease-fire. Compendium users are advised to consult the on-line version of NLM for full details, particularly with regard to developments related to the Tapein and Myitson hydropower projects.

Information Minister Kyaw Hsan: You know, Tapain hydropower project is a joint-venture of the Ministry of Electric Power-1 and Datang (Yunnan) United Hydropower Developing Co Ltd-DUHD of China. It is an important project and its capital is large. We have heard that the Chinese company secretly paid Yuan 15 million to KIO to implement the project smoothly without obstacles. However, KIO/KIA disturbed, threatened and blackmailed Chinese technicians and staff working at the project in June. It also launched heavy weapon attack from its Donbon camp, tried to cause menace to the transport link of the project and blew up towers from the project to Bhamo. Because of KIO/KIA disturbances and menace 215 Chinese citizens of the company working at the project left for home from 9 June to 14 June. Because of their departure, the project had to stop operations of its four 60-MHz turbines on 14 June.
Associated Press, 05/08/11. Edited and condensed.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/08/05/2346183/myanmar-says-ethnic-rebels-kill.html

Ethnic Kachin fighters in northern Myanmar ambushed a car carrying workers from a Chinese-backed hydroelectric project, killing seven people, state media reported Friday. The vehicle was attacked as it traveled from the Tarpein power plant to the town of Moemauk on 02/08/11, the government-owned Myanma Ahlin newspaper said. Kachin army headquarters could not be reached for comment. Among the passengers inside the vehicle were three technicians who had just come from the Tarpein plant, the newspaper said. Only one of the eight people inside the car, a policeman, survived, it said. The gruesome aftermath of the attack appeared in photos on several front-page newspapers in Myanmar. [Compiler’s note: A Kachin News Group account of the attack together and a map of the area where the attack occurred is available at http://www.kachinnews.com/news/2008-kia-attacks-a-burmese-military-truck.html According to the KNG report the attack occurred while cease-fire talks between the KIO and the Burmese government were underway at the KIO’s Laja Yang liason office.

IRROL, 11/07/11. Edited and abridged. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21667

Burmese government troops have launched a large-scale attack including mortar shells against the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) at the hydropower dam site in Momauk township. The two-day assault started on Sunday, July 10th, and involved government forces and KIA Battalions 15 and 25, according to La Nan, joint-secretary of the KIA’s political wing, the KIO. The KIO has accused government troops of attacking the KIA from covered positions amongst civilian infrastructure at the Taping (Tapein-1) hydropower dam site including workshops and electricity poles. If KIA troops were to return fire, there is a strong possibility that these important Chinese-owned amenities will be damaged. La Nan alleges that the Burmese government is attempting to cause problems between the KIA and Chinese businesses through these military tactics. KIA troops, however, refused to be drawn into a protracted battle with the Burmese Army, he added.

KIA sources also reveal that the KIO leadership will conduct survey amongst Kachin civilians tomorrow to determine if they should seek a ceasefire with the government. Serious fighting between the Burmese Army and KIA troops has forced more than 10,000 refugees to flee to the Sino-Burmese border since hostilities broke out on June 9. Both small-scale clashes and heavy fighting have taken place every day across Kachin State despite the government and KIO leaders recently discussing possibilities for a ceasefire. Meanwhile, local humanitarian groups and relief agencies have raised concerns regarding a rising need for emergency food, shelter and medical care, as well as schooling for children on the Sino-Burmese border. More than 15,000 internally displaced persons and refugees are currently living in make-shift camps along the frontier, and relief groups are quickly running out of aid and essential supplies.
KNG, 04/07/11. Excerpt. Edited. http://www.bnionline.net/news/kng/11083-kachins-ask-uk-government-for-help.html

Three representatives of the exile Kachin National Organization (KNO) met with representatives of the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) on 30/06/11 at the FCO office in London and discussed the current situation in Kachin State and the plight of war refugees, said a participant. During the meeting Kachin representatives submitted a four point proposal to the FCO, requesting the UK government to appoint staff to assist the refugees from the current conflict in Kachin State and to push the Burmese government to announce a ceasefire. The meeting included officers from the Burma Desk of the FCO and from the Department for International Development (DFID) of the UK.

Ba Kaung, IRROL, 01/07/11. Edited and abridged. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21610

[At a second meeting with officials of the Kachin State government that included Col Than Aung, the Kachin State minister for border affairs], Brig-Gen Gun Maw, the deputy military chief of the KIA expressed a desire for a ceasefire [but] indicated that any agreement to halt the fighting with the Burmese army must come with tangible political reforms and compromise from the Naypyidaw government. In particular, Gun Maw told the delegation that the Burmese government must change the “Nargis Law,” referring to the current Constitution, which was voted on in a referendum held in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis in 2008. Within the KIA, there is not much optimism that a new ceasefire deal will be reached, and many members expressed a complete distrust of the Burmese government. Some officials assume that the current lull in armed clashes with the Burmese troops is either because of an internal clash in the Naypyidaw leadership, or because the Burmese government is just waiting for a proper time to launch a major military offensive against them. KIA officials said the two sides would meet again in the near future for another round of ceasefire talks -- although when is unclear.

Ba Kaung, IRROL, 30/06/11. Edited and condensed. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21602

The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and Burmese army officials held formal talks in the town of Lagayan on 30/06/11. It was the first time the two sides have sat down together since hostilities in Kachin State broke out on 09/06/11. The renewed fighting near the Chinese border effectively ended a 17-year-old ceasefire between the two sides. KIA officials, led by second-in-command Gen Gun Maw, met with the Burmese military delegation, led by Col Than Aung, minister for border affairs in Kachin State. During the meeting, representatives of the KIA called on the Burmese government to release any form of documentation, such as a letter from Naypyidaw, to confirm the government's intentions and commitment toward a formal ceasefire, according to Kachin officers.

KNG, 20/06/11. Abridged. http://www.bnionline.net/news/kng/10989-sinbo-witnesses-heavy-fighting-between-burmese-troops-and-kia.html

Skirmishes between the Burmese Army and the KIA are taking place day and night in Dum Bung Krung in the KIA’s Battalion 25 area in N’mawk (Momauk) township, said KIA officers. Residents of N’mawk told the KNG on 18/06/11 that they can hear mines explode and gunfire every day. A KIA officer in Laiza said heavy fighting is occurring in the whole of Kachin State and Northern Shan State with government troops encroaching on KIA’s territories.

NLM, 18/06/11. Edited and abridged. http://www.burmalibrary.org/docs11/NLM2011-06-18.pdf

The Tarpein hydelpower project is a joint venture project of the EPM-1 and the Datang (Yunnan) United Hydropower Developing (DUHD) Co of the PRC. The project is an important one and the two sides have invested heavily in the project. Although the Tatmadaw [Myanmar army] told the KIA to withdraw from a temporary camp near the project not later than 11 June, the KIA did not follow [through]. A Tatmadaw column inevitably attacked and occupied the temporary KIA camp on 12 June evening. But the KIA did not pay heed to the warning, instead it launched heavy weapon fire at the project from its Dunbon outpost, made the route to the Tarpein project unsafe and blew up pylons carrying cables connecting the project to the Bhamo district. Due to these threats, 215 Chinese employees assigned to the project went back to China from 9 to 14 June. Fifty Chinese employees left the project on 9 June, 84 on 12 June, 53 on 13 June and 28 on 14 June respectively. The project which is equipped with four 60-MHz generators ceased to operate as from 14 June, causing a great loss to the State and the people. Tatmadaw columns had to inevitably attack the KIA just to rescue its officers detained by the KIA without any reason and to protect the high-cost Tarpein hydropower project, which can largely benefit the region as well as the nation. In response to the attack of the Tatmadaw, KIA blew up nine bailey bridges, 10 RC type bridges, four concrete bridges, two wooden bridges, altogether 25 bridges, which are of importance in transportation of Kachin State, from 14 to 16 June. Such destructive acts of the KIA severely harm the interests of the region and the nation, destabilizing the tranquility of local people and seriously damaging transport facilities. [Compiler’s note: For various analyses of the significance of the outbreak of hostilities at the Tapein hydropower project, see ELEP037.]

Xinhua, 18/06/11. Excerpt. http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90851/7413878.html

The Tarpein hydropower project is a heavily-invested joint venture project between Myanmar's Ministry of Electric Power-1 and Datang (Yunnan) United Hydropower Developing Company of China. Of the two-phase 400-megawatt project, the first phase of the 240-megawatt (mw) Tarpein-1 hydropower plant comprising four 60-mw generators has been completed yielding power at 1,065 million kilowatt-hours yearly. The remaining 160-megawatt plant project is underway.

Wai Moe, IRROL, 15/06/11. Excerpt. Edited. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21496

The fighting in [southern] Kachin state broke out following a call by the Burmese Army for KIA troops to withdraw from the Chinese-run Tapaing-1 hydropower project in Bhamo district. In response, the KIO called for government troops to withdraw from their territory. The two sides have exchanged fire in the week from June 9th to June 15th. Due to violent clashes around the hydropower site, Chinese workers shut the plant on Tuesday as the last group of 100 employees returned to China.

DVB, 15/06/11. Edited. http://www.dvb.no/news/chinese-workers-freed-from-kachin-dam/16129

About 30 Chinese nationals who were trapped for several days at the Tapein-1 hydropower station been released and returned to China. The workers at the plant, which lies just inside Burmese territory, were unable to leave last week when fighting broke out between Burmese Army troops and the KIA. Until yesterday the KIA had refused to remove road blocks on the route between Tapein-1 and the border that were put in place to stop Burmese reinforcements reaching the main battleground in Momauk township. La Nan, joint-general secretary of the KIA’s political wing, the KIO, said the workers had “left open all the flood gates in the dam to minimise damage to the power station, completely stopping its circulation”. The KIA surrounded the power station on 10 June, after it had agreed the previous day to allow a unit of Burmese troops in to check on the Chinese workers and gauge whether any damage had occurred to facilities. The unit then refused to leave, prompting a fire fight between troops and the surrounding Kachin soldiers. A number of Burmese troops, including Colonel Aung Du who led the unit, were hit by artillery shells and taken to Bhamo hospital. No Chinese workers were injured, according to the KIA.

KNG, 14/06/11. Edited and condensed.

http://www.kachinnews.com/news/1948-kia-rejects-governments-ceasefire-offer.html

The KIA has rejected the offer of a cease-fire by the Burma Army after the BA occupied the KIA’s Bum Sen post on Sunday evening, said KIA officials at its Laiza headquarters. The Bum Sen post is a strategic military base for the KIA, that overlooks the supply line between the Laiza headquarters, the KIA’s 3rd Brigade near Mai Ja Yang in Momauk township and its 4th Brigade in northern Shan State.

KNG, 14/06/11. Edited and condensed.

http://www.bnionline.net/news/kng/10944-kia-destroys-main-bridge-to-taping-dams.html

The KIA destroyed a bridge used for deploying Burmese Army troops to the site of recent battles between the two armies in Momauk township on the night of June 13^th. The bridge across the Nam Hpak Hka stream was built to facilitate travel to nearby hydropower projects on the Taping river and was strong enough to support heavy duty trucks used in construction work on the dams. The current in the small stream is too strong at this season of the year to cross by foot or with a raft. [Compiler’s note: A good sketch map of the area showing the main bases of the KIA, the approximate location of the two hydropower dam sites and the main towns in the area accompanies the news story.]

Saw Yan Naing, IRROL, 13/01/11. Edited and condensed.

http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21478

Government forces have reinforced their positions in Momauk, bringing in several additional battalions. Sources said the government is preparing for a major military operation. KIA sources claimed about 60 government soldiers were injured in clashes over the weekend, and were hospitalized in Bhamo. Seng Aung, a resident in Laiza, the headquarters of the KIA, said he believed the fighting would escalate and that Chinese construction workers and engineers at Tapaing[-2?] dam near the Sino-Burmese border have returned home to escape the hostilities. He said that prisoners from Bhamo were sent to Momauk to serve as porters for government troops. Government forces took over a KIA liaison office in Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State, on Saturday night. Lapai Naw Din, the editor of the Thailand-based Kachin News Group, said that government authorities warned local residents in Momauk not to go out at nighttime. Many Momauk residents fled after government troops began forcefully recruiting locals to serve as porters, carrying munitions and supplies toward the theaters of battle.

KNG, 12/06/11. Edited. http://www.burmariversnetwork.org/news/11-news/582-war-cuts-off-electricity-two-straight-days-in-manmaw-nmawk.html

Electricity supplied to the towns of Momauk and Bhamo from the Taping-1 hydropower plant has been cut off since Saturday, June 11, as a result of the fighting between the KIA and the Burmese Army at Sang Gang. Witnesses said the interruption in the power supply was due to damage to a power pole that occurred during the fighting.

KNG, 11/06/11. Edited and condensed.

http://www.bnionline.net/news/kng/10933-battle-between-burma-army-and-kia-resumes-at-sang-gang.html

Fighting resumed on 11/06/11 between the Burmese Army and the KIA after a two-day break, KIA officers said. The heavy fighting is taking place at Sang Gang in Momauk township, the same location where it broke out earlier in the week. KIA officers said the recent fighting started after the KIA refused to meet a deadline from the Burmese Army for a complete withdrawal from the KIA’s Bum Sen stronghold in Sang Gang. Currently, over 500 Burmese troops from more than three battalions are deployed in Sang Gang and more reinforcements from Burmese battalions around the Bhamo district are on their way to the battle zone.

Saw Ya Naing, IRROL, 10/06/11. Excerpt. Edited. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21469

Kachin Independence Army (KIA) troops stationed in eastern Kachin State's Momauk Township are on high alert following several hours of fighting with Burmese government troops on Thursday, as sources report that both sides appear to be bracing for further hostilities. A resident of Maijayain in Momauk township said that Almost all the Kachin men in the village had gone to the area where the fighting broke. The male residents were likely summoned by the KIA as reinforcements, as they serve as members of a paramilitary militia under KIA command, said the resident. Lapai Naw Din, the editor of the Thailand-based Kachin News Group, said that the clashes on Thursday were serious because tension has been mounting between the KIA and the government over the KIA's refusal to become a border guard force under Burmese army control. Some 500 troops were involved in the fighting—which included mortar shelling—on Thursday. At least three government soldiers were killed and six injured, while two KIA soldiers were wounded, said Lapai Naw Din.

KNG, 09/06/11. Excerpt. Edited. http://www.bnionline.net/news/kng/10912-fighting-between-kachin-and-burmese-troops-for-three-hours.html

Fighting broke out for nearly three hours this morning between troops of the KIA and the Burmese army. The fighting was between Momauk-based LIB-437 and the KIA's Battalion-15, under Brigade 3, at the KIA-controlled Sanggang village in Momauk township, according to KIA officials at the Laiza headquarters in eastern Kachin State. The encounter took place close to the Taping river on the road that leads to Taping-1 and Taping-2 hydropower plants of the China Datang Corp.

NLM, 06/02/11. http://www.burmalibrary.org/docs11/NLM2011-02-06.pdf

An aerial view of Tarpein-1 hydropower plant and switch yard is included with an article on Kachin state.

Kyaw Hsu Mon, Myanmar Times, 31/01/11 (Issue 560). Condensed.

http://www.mmtimes.com/2011/business/560/biz56003.html

Datang (Yunnan) United Hydropower Developing Co will operate the Tarpein-1 dam and power plant, about 45km northeast of Bhamo, for 30 years under the build, operate, transfer system. The first 60MW turbine came online in September, providing electricity to Bhamo, Mansi, Momauk and Shwegu townships in southern Kachin State. In a thinly veiled message to the Kachin Independence Organisation, both PM Thein Sein and Brig Gen Zayar Aung “urged local brethren” to ensure “stability for locals to enjoy the benefits” of the new hydropower projects. It is not clear what proportion of total production at Tarpein-1 will be reserved for domestic use, but residents in Bhamo confirmed they began receiving a significantly improved supply of electricity about three months ago, when the first turbine at Tarpein-1 came online. “We now have 24-hour electricity with full voltage. Up until three months ago we were getting only 12 hours a day, at night, and we had to use a [voltage] regulator because we were only receiving about 60 volts,” said U Khin Maung Thin from Bhamo township. He said the Department of Electricity had provided 10 extra transformers to cope with the increased electricity supply. “We have never had enough electricity, particularly in the day time. There was a serious lack of electricity in this region before.”

NLM, 07/03/10. http://www.burmalibrary.org/docs08/NLM2010-03-07.pdf

With a view to implementing projects to supply electricity, EPM-2 is undertaking national grids such as the installation of . . . the three-mile-long power line from the Kyaukpahto-Shwegu-Bhamo 66-KV power grid to the Naba sub-power station project . . . the 40 mile-long Naba-Mohnyin 66-KV power line project and the 55- mile-long Mohnyin- Mogaung 66-KV power line project.

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