OAM4J:

All I can say is that people change. I think Yaras-mugu changed to his own detriment.

I was in Lagos during Yara-sickler's campaign, I remember when he came to Lagos to campaign, at a dinner meeting with top CEOs, he Yara-dunce promised to continue on obj policies, he particularly listed the NIP projects, the railway modernization project, the economic reforms etc and promised to retain the key ministers in obj cabinet for that purpose (I guess that was why obj left the ministers till his last days in office), this statement drew a lot of applause from those CEOs at that meeting.

But as soon as Yaradead won the election came to power, he stop listening to the likes of El Rufai who drafted his Inaugural Speech (one of the best inaugural speeches) and started listening to the likes of Thief Ibori, Abba Ruma & co. He went back on his words, cancelled most of the key projects of obj, sent us back 8 years and ended up more of a curse than blessing to Nigeria. Obj was a thief, but we were making some progress, But Yara-dead, his wife and men were bigger thiefs and Nigeria moved backward in his days- thanks to wikileaks and imagine ECA of over $20B went down to $5B in less than 2 years with nothing to show for it. Yes am still embittered by his actions.

Yar Adua's cabal was actually auctioning the PHCN / NIPPS equipment at the ports for their personal gain. Multi-billion dollar equipment, shipped in with tax payers money!
GEJ and Sambo put a stop to the brazen theft, freed the equipment for use and found ways to supply gas (even though Yar Adua's cabal said that was impossible). We are slowly beginning to see the benefits.

OAM4J:

All I can say is that people change. I think Yaras-mugu changed to his own detriment.

I was in Lagos during Yara-sickler's campaign, I remember when he came to Lagos to campaign, at a dinner meeting with top CEOs, he Yara-dunce promised to continue on obj policies, he particularly listed the NIP projects, the railway modernization project, the economic reforms etc and promised to retain the key ministers in obj cabinet for that purpose (I guess that was why obj left the ministers till his last days in office), this statement drew a lot of applause from those CEOs at that meeting.

But as soon as Yaradead won the election came to power, he stop listening to the likes of El Rufai who drafted his Inaugural Speech (one of the best inaugural speeches) and started listening to the likes of Thief Ibori, Abba Ruma & co. He went back on his words, cancelled most of the key projects of obj, sent us back 8 years and ended up more of a curse than blessing to Nigeria. Obj was a thief, but we were making some progress, But Yara-dead, his wife and men were bigger thiefs and Nigeria moved backward in his days- thanks to wikileaks and imagine ECA of over $20B went down to $5B in less than 2 years with nothing to show for it. Yes am still embittered by his actions.

No doubt - but you cant separate the GEJ from Yaradua - As far we can see it is business as usual for the corrupt elites

Ok Andokaa, Turai and the rest have gone but unfortunately GEJ replaced them all with even more corrupt individuals

blacksta:

No doubt - but you cant separate the GEJ from Yaradua - As far we can see it is business as usual for the corrupt elites

Ok Andokaa, Turai and the rest have gone but unfortunately GEJ replaced them all with even more corrupt individuals

So why aren't you attributing the actions of the present govt to Sambo?
Certain positions and statements don't even begin to sound rational.

Thankfully, most folk aren't so logically challenged.

Beaf:

So why aren't you attributing the actions of the present govt to Sambo?
Certain positions and statements don't even begin to sound rational.

Thankfully, most folk aren't so logically challenged.

lol

The problem with you is simply matter of Ethnicity. I am very sure if GEJ was not from the ND area you would not support him which unfortunately does not distinguish you from the almariji in north who are proponents of zoning at the detriment of the Nigerian masses.

blacksta:

lol

The problem with you is simply matter of Ethnicity. I am very sure if GEJ was not from the ND area you would not support him which unfortunately does not distinguish you from the almariji in north who are proponents of zoning at the detriment of the Nigerian masses.

I am not of the same ethnic group as Jonathan, so you have failed in your crude attempt to dodge the persisting question, which is:

why aren't you attributing the actions of the present govt to Sambo?

Your battery is weak.

Beaf:

I am not of the same ethnic group as Jonathan, so you have failed in your crude attempt to dodge the persisting question, which is:

Your battery is weak.

My bad - Same region.

Your battery is weak.

wetin concern me with sambo - Is sambo not part of GEJ.

No matter wat all ye opposers say, this is a step in d right direction. In my house in Kano, I have noticed the release of this 188MW, talk about touching d lives of the masses! A standing ovation for GEJ please!

Please lets not be deceived by load shedding on the grid as improved power supply. In Akwa Ibom where i work its not good enough and in satellite town-Lagos its been over six weeks without power and we never had electricity for more than 3 hours in a day with none over the weekends. We just came out of a two months suspension on bill payment after the last outage lasted roughly 86days. The switchgear cubicles are over 30yrs old since they were installed when Obj was military head of state; 1978

One of our two 2.5MVA transformer has been dead for upwards of three years and the feeder at Otto-wharf feeding satellite town has been down with no care and guess what they still brought the bill - UNBELIEVABLE

Most of the PHCN personnel in satellite town now work under the fruit tree in their office or answer your inquiries at any of the nearby peppersoup joints - What a shame!

For me i had to just opt for solar energy and bought a fairly used emergency generator from UK

We further make this power thing seem like attempting to look for life on Pluto when we cannot boast of one fighter jet. NIPP is busy defacing Festac town with their aerial cables. While i agree its maintenance friendly lets do things in a manner that really shows we have Power system engineers. It pisses me while we do so well working for the Oil companies and some of their contractors hand over sht as projects.

Or dont we have competent people supervising them like in the Energy Commission of Nigeria -ECN with poorly designed solar street lights and recommending solar panels that are no longer in production by the manufacturer

@ abiamahart, isn't that paradoxical that aks has completed her 1st phase of ipp which it was said it generates about 85mgw how then is there no supply?

Beaf:

The current administration is just 9 months old, so the bolded above is nonsensical. It was yar Adua's govt that promised and failed. We need some honesty in our discussions.

Thank God, there is positive movement in power supply at long last. We have waited many govts for this.

Johnathan became Acting President on Feb 9 2010 (upon which he reconstituted the cabinet and  changed the national security adviser. You cannot do that without real powers!) - that means in a week or so he will be 1 year old in office.

Thank God people posting here were old enough to know this

Johnathan became Acting President on [b]Feb 9 2011[/b]Feb 9 2011 (upon which he reconstituted the cabinet and changed the national security adviser. You cannot do that without real powers!) - that means in a week or so he will be 1 year old in office.

Thank God people posting here were old enough to know this

you said Feb 9 2011 and in a weeks time he will be 1 year old in office. pls check your post before submitting it

^^^
Is February9 not about a week's time? Or what's your real issue with his post?

Righton:

Johnathan became Acting President on Feb 9 2010 (upon which he reconstituted the cabinet and  changed the national security adviser. You cannot do that without real powers!) - that means[b] in a week or so[/b] he will be 1 year old in office.

Thank God people posting here were old enough to know this

i bow for some people o. OBJ should be shot, cremated and cut to pieces and his flesh given to the birds of the air. He claimed he spent $16b on power, yet nothing to show for it. SA spent less than $10b to build new stadiums, roads, railway,hotels and other infrastructures during the last world cup. we have a long way to go and we are shouting that we have achieved 188MW. The 188MW cannot even power the whole of ALimosho LG in lagos, talkless of the whole state. we really need good hearted people that will help develop this jinx sector of our country. Only if we can stop MIKANO, JUBILLI bros and other power generator companies from importing generators into this country, then we go serious.

blackboy12:

i bow for some people o. OBJ should be shot, cremated and cut to pieces and his flesh given to the birds of the air. He claimed he spent $16b on power, yet nothing to show for it. SA spent less than $10b to build new stadiums, roads, railway,hotels and other infrastructures during the last world cup. we have a long way to go and we are shouting that we have achieved 188MW. The 188MW cannot even power the whole of ALimosho LG in lagos, talkless of the whole state. we really need good hearted people that will help develop this jinx sector of our country. Only if we can stop MIKANO, JUBILLI bros and other power generator companies from importing generators into this country, then we go serious.

Has obj ever claimed to have spent $16b on power? Is there any fact anywhere that $16b was ever spent on power? Try and get the facts right.

What are we discussing here, I bought 11 liters of fuel for a week now and I still have some in my generator tank as against the three days of refill I do usually. I was able to switch of my air conditioner at mid morning for the first time because I had light all through. If the light blinks, we just hang on for max thirty minutes. Whether we like it or not, they are improving in the power sector. You don’t compare us with the UK and SA. These areas are been managed by whites with principles. Take the white from SA for ten years, you will praise Naija…
David gathered the building materials but we have the record that Solomon built the tabernacle.
Let’s tell the present administration thank you and then ask for more and not to ridicule their efforts to make good things happen.
If we like what they are doing, vote for them, but if we don’t like them, vote against them and vote for your choice of candidate. Whether we like it or not, they are going to be there till May29 2011.

one_man:

You don’t compare us with the UK and SA. These areas are been managed by whites with principles. Take the white from SA for ten years, you will praise Naija…

but its safe to compare with Ghana, Barbados, Sao Tome & Principe, Mali, Angola, do I really need to go on?

Your mentality of "white man superior to black man" already limits your aspirations.

Unless you realize within yourself the rate of improvement Nigeria can achieve with proper management sans corruption, you will continue to thank government for the scraps they throw under the table while you're the one who paid for the food.

I say this again 188MW is nothing to talk about for a country like Nigeria. If it were a local government area, then yes I would salute the achievement. FG should be acting on a much larger scale.

They are able to deceive you by reducing light in one area to give to yours. Of course the area that does not have light will not shout because they are used to not having at times. Part of me wants GEJ to win just so that people like you can see what GEJ is capable of doing to your country. Then I will laugh my head off at the naivety.

ikay88:

but its safe to compare with Ghana, Barbados, Sao Tome & Principe, Mali, Angola, do I really need to go on?

Your mentality of "white man superior to black man" already limits your aspirations.

Unless you realize within yourself the rate of improvement Nigeria can achieve with proper management sans corruption, you will continue to thank government for the scraps they throw under the table while you're the one who paid for the food.

I say this again 188MW is nothing to talk about for a country like Nigeria. If it were a local government area, then yes I would salute the achievement. FG should be acting on a much larger scale.

They are able to deceive you by reducing light in one area to give to yours. Of course the area that does not have light will not shout because they are used to not having at times. Part of me wants GEJ to win just so that people like you can see what GEJ is capable of doing to your country. Then I will laugh my head off at the naivety.

Thank you for your entire quote you mentioned in your write up. Countries don't just wakeup and add 6000MW; it’s a continuous process which the country is making. First is to generate and the other is to evacuate. Most of our transmission lines are running on full capacity. Secondly, we don’t have theft/vandalization issues in Ghana and other countries you mentioned on government equipments like we have in Nigeria. I made reference to SA because it’s the yardstick used in this discussion. Government went to Ghana recently to under study their power sector, all these are to make life easier for us as citizens.

This is from an interview with Mr. Biodun Ogenleye Managing Director of PowerCap Limited taken in 2009,

www.businessworldng.com/web/articles/689/1/Is-FGs-6000mw-Power-Target-Still-Feasible/Page1.html

He put the country’s minimum electricity
needs at100, 000 mega watts, saying that
the figure should be the target of the
country, not 6000 mega watts.
“The minimum that Nigeria should be
talking about now is 100, 000 mega watts
of electricity. Why should we be talking
about 6000 mega watts ?” According to him
Nigeria has all it takes to power the country
even if there were no gas reserves in the
country. “There are countries without gas
supplies that enjoy power supply. There are
a variety of ways you can generate power.
It all depends on how you want to generate
your own power. May be if we did not all
the gas supply, we would have been more
focused. Ghana, for example, until recently,
had no gas yet they have been focused and
been able to power their systems. ”

one_man:

Countries don't just wakeup and add 6000MW

Generating over 6000MW is very feasible within 4/5 years if taken seriously. From my previous quote on page 1, you can see that SA is generating more than they require so they are not under much pressure to construct new power stations yet they can in short time. Excerpts

* Eskom started construction on the 4,788
MW Medupi power station in 2007. The first
of six units is due to be commissioned by
2012 and the plant will be operational by
2015.
* The 4,800 MW Kusile power station is due
by 2016.

one_man:

First is to generate and the other is to evacuate. Most of our transmission lines are running on full capac Secondly, we don’t have theft/vandalization issues in Ghana and other countries you mentioned on government equipments like we have in Nigeria. I made reference to SA because it’s the yardstick used in this discussion. Government went to Ghana recently to under study their power sector, all these are to make life easier for us as citizens.

At first bolded: It is a part of the federal governments duty to upgrade the transmission system. It is also the FG's duty to protect and maintain its power infrastructure. Ghana does not have militants but yet their infrastructure is protected and laws enforced. (You cannot say you are seriously tackling power without addressing corruption, security, efficiency and long term benefit)

At second bolded: I don't know when this happened but I am sure it is not the first time government has gone for that purpose because I remember they did so during OBJ. I think it should be common knowledge now that some (more or less) elite nigerians see Ghana as a place for quick "R & R". The number and standard of properties and cars owned by nigerian government officials there is sometimes more than they show here.

I cannot stop you if you want to believe your government is really trying, you must have your reasons. All I know is that for me, all these tiny stations are a waste of FG resources since pooling the time and financial resources could produce much more relief for the country because we are in the red zone. SA was able to get 200MW from clean renewable wind energy alone, as a country that wants to progress we should be thinking on another level.

NEPA gives us 4hours of electricity in 2days in my area of PH

Nigeria will continue to be backwards until our people can learn to educate themselves on issues before appraising it. I laugh whenever i hear some ignorant Nigerians celebrating additional 188MW or a 6,000MW target for that matter.
Every Tom,Deek and Harry just loves to make comments and appraisal on what they understand nothing about. Load shedding can easily be used to deceive most Nigerians.

Here is the direction we should be thinking in:
1 How much Electricity does Nigeria need to consume?
2 How much Electricity is available now?

Is anybody here ready to do the analysis with me?

I believe we can manage the amount of energy we have already; FG should ban all filament bulbs, they are just energy wasters. Somebody, should try this experiment; replace all filament bulbs in your house with energy saving bulbs or fluorescent tubes and see how much fuel you generator will save

mecussey:

I believe we can manage the amount of energy we have already; FG should ban all filament bulbs, they are just energy wasters. Somebody, should try this experiment; replace all filament bulbs in your house with energy saving bulbs or fluorescent tubes and see how much fuel you generator will save

Brilliant suggestion! Filament bulbs are already banned in most of Europe and the West in general in order to create a smaller carbon footprint (use less energy).
The bonus as you've pointed out, is the enormous savings each household would make.

I fully support the replacement of filament bulbs with energy saving bulbs.
If the government banned importation and manufacture of filament bulbs it would make our power usage more efficient, and I would think they are addressing the situation. Unfortunately the government does not even see the need to spread awareness of the advantages of ESBs.

@Mecussey, i'd have to strongly disagree with your assumption that about 4,000MW would be sufficient for Nigeria even with energy saving bulbs. You are not considering that Nigeria has a battalion of varying industries and commercial centres, each with massive power needs.

Or just consider if you have a microwave in 100,000 households across the nation that draws an average of 700W each, in the evening as everyone tries warming their food 70MW is gone already just on that number of microwaves alone. Our generation capacity right now (3800MW) should ideally be for 1 and a half states (IMO), but we are using it to power 36 plus the FCT. It is just not going to fly.

i did my IT in a press centre. the cutting has 3 phases(5hp) the printing machine is 5hp we have about 5 of these machines air-conditioner and foiling machines are not included in my calculation. our generator consumes 50 litres of diesel in 6 hours. in fact Nigeria has not started

VALIDATOR:

Nigeria will continue to be backwards until our people can learn to educate themselves on issues before appraising it. I laugh whenever i hear some ignorant Nigerians celebrating additional 188MW or a 6,000MW target for that matter.
Every Tom,manliness and Harry just loves to make comments and appraisal on what they understand nothing about. Load shedding can easily be used to deceive most Nigerians.

Here is the direction we should be thinking in:
1 How much Electricity does Nigeria need to consume?
2 How much Electricity is available now?

Is anybody here ready to do the analysis with me?

Using comparable analysis to the size and economy (growing @ 7% annually) to other developed countries for instance the U.S., an average household uses about 600Kwh to 1,100Kwh every month. That's an average of 850Kwh or 0.85Megawatts monthly or 10,200Kwh/10.2Mwh annually. Take that figure and multiply by number of households in Nigeria. Nigeria has about 150million citizens, with an average of 6 per household, that's about 25million households. Take that figure and multiply by 10.2Mwh per household, that should give you 255million Megawatt/hr annually. Take almost 3x of that for the commercial sector and you would be having almost 1.020 billion megawatt/hr annual consumption.

The rule of thumb is that for every 1MW of generation @ 100% capacity would generate a total output of 8,760MwH (24hrs a day * 365 days a year = 8,760 hrs ) of electricity; however most generators operate at average capacity with a norm of 70% so which is 6,132MwH of output for the year. Therefore @1.020 billion megawatt consumption and at an average of 6,132 megawatt average capacity, we would need to generate at least 166,341 Megawatts of electricity annually (1.020 megawatts hours / 6,132 megawatt hours  = 166,341 MW) to meet economical consumption. Note we are generating about 3,500MW, that's less than 0.50% of where we supposed to be.

To solve the situation, Nigeria needs to invest in renewable energy (wind, hydro, solar and nuclear), but due to the fact we have a track record of irresponsibility, Nuclear should be ruled out for the meantime. I'm not an Electrical Engineer, but I've done tons of research than an average engineer. I was working on a research study last week on average consumption of water for hydroelectricity, the IEEE claimed that for every 1000Kwh / 1Mwh  of electricity would consume 260 litres of water making it by far the most cheapest and cleanest form of large electricity production. I can do the math later on if you request. I see a lot of potential here, thank God for the Atlantic, installing a large dam like the the itaipu dam in Brazil (14.4GW) and the three Gorges dam in China(22.5GW). That will go a long way in electricity output.

^^ Good analysis, but there are some major flaws.

The US is the highest per-capita consumers of energy in the world - therefore it is grossly unrealistic to even expect to approach those levels, when even European countries don't come close in that regard.

Western European households use ~1700 kWh per YEAR, which equates to roughly 150kWH per month. That will be a far more reasonable starting point, and while noting that it is unrealistic to expect all Nigerian homes to have the electricity consumption of some of the richest countries, 100 kWh would be a reasonable starting point. 1.7 MWh per household for your 25m households equates to 42.5million MWh, factoring in industrial capacity gives you 170 million MWh.

Going with the rest of your calculations, we’re talking about ~30,000 MWh as a reasonable medium term target, adjustable as power consumption and industrialization increases.

Our current production is about 10% of that, and gives a more realistic picture.

While large hydro remains the best option for generating electricity, we do not have the hydro potential of the likes of the Amazon river or the Yellow river in Brazil and China respectively.

Our largest river is the Niger and this is being tapped currently, with extra potential possible from Mambilla, but again nowhere near Itaipu or Three Gorges.

What we do have is an abundance of gas, which can be easily converted into electricity using CCGTs, a technology clearly established which can be implemented on a much shorter timescale compared to hydro.

That should form the bedrock of our power generation along with expanding our existing hydro power base, with coal brought in as well and then subsequently looking at renewables.

Good Analysis

But unfortunately present and past governments have refused to surround themselves with technocrats like yourselves but rather surround themselves with yes men who unable propose ideas as " Oga might get offended" .

Nigeria needs nothing less than 50,000 mw  to see anything like 16 -18 hours of electricity across the country. Along with  that you also need a plan to increase by 10% yearly.  With almost stable electricity income will increase which means more power consuming electronics will be purchased like plasma tvs, a/c units, microwaves and similar.

I suspect to achieve this level of generation  - the electricity has to be truly deregulated ( and not some padi padi arrangement like we witnessed with the refineries) and let private individuals or companies finance these costly project as i cant see how the government can afford to build these power plants.

As of Late 2008  it will cost roughly $2 million to build a 1 MW coal fired plant . Multiply the figure by 25,000 MW give or take bearing in mind economies of scale it is very expensive.

debosky:

^^ Good analysis, but there are some major flaws.

The US is the highest per-capita consumers of energy in the world - therefore it is grossly unrealistic to even expect to approach those levels, when even European countries don't come close in that regard.

Western European households use ~1700 kWh per YEAR, which equates to roughly 150kWH per month. That will be a far more reasonable starting point, and while noting that it is unrealistic to expect all Nigerian homes to have the electricity consumption of some of the richest countries, 100 kWh would be a reasonable starting point. 1.7 MWh per household for your 25m households equates to 42.5million MWh, factoring in industrial capacity gives you 170 million MWh.

Going with the rest of your calculations, we’re talking about ~30,000 MWh as a reasonable medium term target, adjustable as power consumption and industrialization increases.

Our current production is about 10% of that, and gives a more realistic picture.

While large hydro remains the best option for generating electricity, we do not have the hydro potential of the likes of the Amazon river or the Yellow river in Brazil and China respectively.

Our largest river is the Niger and this is being tapped currently, with extra potential possible from Mambilla, but again nowhere near Itaipu or Three Gorges.

What we do have is an abundance of gas, which can be easily converted into electricity using CCGTs, a technology clearly established which can be implemented on a much shorter timescale compared to hydro.

That should form the bedrock of our power generation along with expanding our existing hydro power base, with coal brought in as well and then subsequently looking at renewables.

Major flaws, how so?

He was asking a question

1. How much does electricity does Nigeria need to consume? That's a simple question, he wasn't asking for the minimum or nor maximum or starting point or otherwise. To me, that is just the base assuming everything remains equal and that's how I would answer it on any exam. I don't know what seems realistic, but I think a country with a population with 150million, half of the U.S. population should at least produce at least 1/3 of the U.S., now that's more grossly realistic. Please don't start economics with me, Nigeria did not supply electricity to it's citizens and they said NO, being that Nigeria is a highly concentrated country with services, business etc, sooner or later the per capita of energy consumption will rise, let's call a spade a spade.

That is western Europe, but I was comparing based upon economical growth per GDP. Nigeria is ranked as one of the growing economies even way faster than the U.S. and you think the comparison is flawed? Well, I was only using that as a basis, you could scale it down by 10%, 20% or 50% consumption, however you choose, it remains the same.

You should research what is called "Man Made Dams", that would enlighten you. Although a large river is important, I think the important part is the holding area or the reservoir. The hoover dam eg is a Man Made Dam.

Gas has always been an expensive form quoted from the IEEE, doesn't come cheap as compared to water as compared to hydro. Also there have been small hydro man made dams, China has said that accounts for abt 20% of their electricity out put. Small hydro man made dams account abt 13% of U.S. power output. If my math is correct, according to the IEEE, if 260 litres of water can spin a turbine to generate 1mwh of electricity, a small hydro plant with with a 50 -100 megawatt capacity would need 13,000 to 26,000 litres of water to generate electricity. I think looking at volume wise, you can easily create reservoirs of 13,000 litres or 3434 gallons or the other one.

manny4life:

I think a country with a population with 150million, half of the U.S. population should at least produce at least 1/3 of the U.S., now that's more realistic.

It isn't realistic - US consumption is not a valid metric for Nigeria’s anticipated usage in any guise. Even China with an even larger is not aiming for achieving US per capita power consumption, but instead is seeking to reduce energy intensity of it’s production systems.

Well, I was only using that as a basis, you could scale it down by 10%, 20% or 50% consumption, however you choose, it remains the same.

Fair point - I’ve scaled it down by approximately 2/3rds.

You should research what is called "Man Made Dams", that would enlighten you. Although a large river is important, I think the important part is the holding area or the reservoir. The hoover dam eg is a Man Made Dam.

Holding area of the dam is important alright, but without sufficient flowrate of water from upstream of the dam, the reservoir will dry up. The Niger is already dammed in a number of locations and is probably close to capacity.

All power generation dams are man made, so there’s no new info in that - we already have Kainji and Shiroro and Mambilla is in the exploratory stage.

Gas has always been an expensive form quoted from the IEEE, doesn't come cheap and need large amount of water as compared to hydro.

Gas is being flared in Nigeria and can be readily available once the regulatory framework is established and incentivised. With over 160 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves, local consumption is not an issue once the system is set up to encourage developing of gas reserves.

It is far easier to install and is less dependent on fluctuating water levels as is experienced in the current hydro facilities in Nigeria, and can be built in a much shorter timeframe as Afam IV, Olorunsogo, Kwale and others have shown, without the massive displacement of people involved with hydro projects.

I hear dangote is even paying PHCN transmission people bribe to cut their customer's lights off during the day,when he wants to run his industries in Lagos. Surely GEJ is not unaware of this? Does this also contribute to the 4000 mgw? Am sure dangote does not pay kobo in Light bills. GEJ needs to stop his propaganda and start acting. He needs to know what is going on in the power industry.

There are several technologies in place but I think the displacement part; that's the opportunity cost forgone for building a large holding area for the water. I'm no Engineer, I studied finance, but there are projects that support the sufficient flow rate of water upstream to the reservoir. To deal with fluctuations, well take water from the Atlantic ocean, treat the water and fill your reservoir. At least that's what desalination companies do. What I know certain about China is in the near future, they are about to surpass the U.S. Although maybe not per capita wise as compared to the U.S., but they are not scaling down any productions systems in fact they are building more. I recently read a report from Dept of Energy on China's power and economy and China isn't hiding it, they building more and aggressively investing on smaller hydro dams.