Bakun Dam

-------------------------------------------------

BAKUN DAM

-------------------------------------------------

INTRODUCTION

Embankment dams hold back water by the force of gravity acting upon their mass. Embankment dams require more material because loose rock and earth are less dense than concrete. Engineers often choose to build them if the materials are readily available. Our Tarbela Dam contains more than 126 million cubic metres earth and rock. This amounts to more than 15 times the volume of concrete used in the Grand Coulee Dam.

-------------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------------

PHYSICAL CONFIGURATION

The Bakun Dam is an under construction embankment dam located in  Sarawak,  Malaysia  on the Balui River, a tributary or source of the Rajang Riverand some sixty kilometers west of Belaga. As part of the project, the second tallest concrete-faced rockfill dam in the world would be built. It is planned to generate 2,400 megawatts (MW) of electricity once completed.

Construction of the Bakun Dam on the Balui River in Sarawak, Malaysia, is largely complete in late 2010.  Floodgates were closed and filling the dam began in October 2010. Hundreds of rural residents have been displaced by construction of the Bakun Dam, their forests and croplands along the Balui flooded.  Experience with the Bakun dam has led to widespread opposition to the construction of additional massive hydroelectric dams in Sarawak.

The purpose for the dam was to meet growing demand for electricity. However, most of this demand said to lie in Peninsular Malaysia and not East Malaysia, where the dam is located. Even in Peninsular Malaysia, however, there is an over-supply of electricity, with Tenaga Nasional Berhad being locked into unfavourable purchasing agreements with Independent Power Producers. The original idea was to have 30% of the generated capacity consumed in East Malaysia and the rest sent to Peninsular Malaysia. This...