Perhaps until a few years ago, no one paid attention to the “carbon footprint” and the negative environmental effects of electricity production. When talking about clean and renewable electricity, many people’s minds would go towards hydroelectric systems, such as large dams, where the flow of water through the turbines of massive generators would provide the needed electricity for cities and industries.

Until a few years ago, many people did not know that the large reservoirs created under the name of clean energy production could be a source of methane gas, one of the most influential greenhouse gases; although this amount of methane may be less than the amount produced by cow belching, it is still considered pollution. On the other hand, it was discovered that a large portion of the gas present in the water of these reservoirs is released when the water is released after the dam. When organic materials in the reservoir are decomposed, methane is produced; of course, some of these reservoirs have also become a breeding ground for blue-green algae and have had a negative impact on aquatic life.

But these are not the only damages of hydroelectric power plants to the environment. If the construction of a dam leads to the flooding of forests and pastures under millions of cubic meters of water, who is responsible? How can the effects of this damage be compensated if the biodiversity and animal species of an area are destroyed or reduced due to the construction of a dam? If at the cost of building a dam and hydroelectric power plant, thousands of people are forced to migrate from their homes and livelihoods, who is responsible for the negative environmental, financial, and psychological effects of this disaster on future generations?

If we examine the provision of energy for the people from the perspective of justice, we must also consider whether the implementation of large-scale electricity production projects has resulted in environmental injustice or not.

Supporters of dam construction do not want any blemishes to be seen on the seemingly flawless image that has been presented of the dams. The bread of this group is to justify the construction of dams at any cost, but the issue that this community is ignoring is the effects of building large structures on the lives of people and the environment. Building a dam has brought a lot of bread to a group of consulting engineers and project implementers. Those who have been involved in the construction of hydroelectric power plants have been able to impose significant costs on the country for years without being scrutinized.

The Karun 3 Dam is an interesting and tragic example. A power plant designer told me that out of the eight units in this dam, three of them are extra: “In Karun 3, the capacity of five units was enough and three extra units were installed, well what can we do? It’s all done and gone.”

Pay attention; it says three extra units; this means imposing billions of dollars on the public budget without even being accounted for. This means numerous commissions for purchasing and importing power plant parts from outside the country; yes! According to him, in order to not spend money elsewhere, extra power plant units were added to the Karun 3 dam; meaning the dam did not need these three units. Who was aware of this situation? Surely the managers of the Water and Power Company, including Vafa Tabesh and Ali Zhametkesh, and even the former minister, Habibollah Bitaraf, were fully aware.

He also says about Karun 4 Dam: “For the Karun 4 power plant, 600 megawatts was enough, not the current 1000 megawatts.” This means that even with the initial evaluation, it was decided to install and create more turbine capacity and facilities in order to increase the statistics and spend much more money.

The important point about Karun 3 and Karun 4 dams is that they have flooded the lakes of the Dez region; a region that has been very thirsty in recent years and does not have enough water for more than 110 villages. If these dams have been built for various reasons and justifications, including electricity production, and have caused deprivation for the people of a region, they have caused irreparable damage to the environment and future generations will be victims of these projects. We are facing environmental injustice. Destroying the river environment, cutting down thousands of oak and beech trees in the valleys of Karun 3 and Karun 4 dams, displacing more than ten thousand people and destroying their farms and sustainable economic livelihoods in the name of electricity production and not compensating for the damages to these victims is a crime. When some reformists defend or support these projects in clubhouses, they repeat the country’s needs for development, water, and electricity as a more urgent reason

The lack of independent environmental, social, and economic studies prior to the construction of dams, due to the shared interests of the assessment group and the dam builders, results in the concealment of many realities. This has led to the imposition of dozens of large dams on the rivers and watersheds of the country, with the justification of providing energy, and a large portion of the country’s budget being allocated to these dams instead of investing in more sustainable renewable energy sources. As a result, the country has become dependent on the turbines of these large dam power plants.

This year, due to the management and reduction of rainfall and the relative emptiness of some large reservoirs, multiple hydroelectric power plants have practically stopped working. Now, with the example of Karun 3 and Karun 4 dams and the additional power plants that are not normally operational, we must see how many other dams have also been affected by this financial and managerial misuse, and how the cost of these additional power plants has been imposed on the budget; a budget that could have been used for the construction of solar and wind power plants in deprived areas such as Sistan and Baluchestan.

I am not an energy expert and I cannot give a good example of how various government groups misuse their power, but from my conversations with experts, I have come to the conclusion that the lack of independent mechanisms and accountability, as well as the disregard for environmental issues by governments and collaborating organizations in the Ministry of Energy, even what is advertised as clean energy, is not only environmentally harmful, but also considered highly unethical and economically corrupt.

Nowadays, countries around the world are turning to methods that meet local needs as much as possible, considering the regional potential for power generation; from using methane gas from sewage for electricity production to using wave energy to power desalination plants in Australia (1).

Let’s imagine if the underdeveloped areas around the Oman Sea and Persian Gulf were benefiting from these investments, how different would the economic and environmental situation of these regions be compared to what we see today. If instead of the additional units of power plants Karun 3 and Karun 4, we used the 120-day winds of Sistan for electricity production, and if thousands of hectares in the vast desert areas of Iran were using the 300-day sun for energy supply, would we not have had a different world today?

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For more information, refer to:

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The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA)