SN Power (Statkraft Norfund) to cancel 600 million dollar hydro-power project after exec. shot at by Mapuche sympathizer in Santiago, Chile

(Jan. 9, 2008) Mario Marchese – an employee of a Norwegian company developing hydro projects in southern Chile - was shot at twice Monday morning as he was entering his car in the Las Condes borough of Santiago. Before leaving the scene of the crime the attacker dropped six fliers with the handwritten acronym “CAM” on them. Police investigators believe the acronym denotes the perpetrator’s affiliation with the Mapuche activist group Community Coordinator for Auraco-Malleco Conflict (CAM).

The shots missed Marchese and hit the driver's-side door of his car. Marchese said that he believes the gunman was not intending to hurt him, since he was in point-blank range and could have easily shot him.

Marchese is the Subsidiary Manager for Norwegian electric company SN Power and Executive Vice-President of SN Power’s Chilean subsidiary, Hidroeléctrica Troyenko. The hydroelectric firm currently has four new dam projects currently underway in Region XIV. The Troyenko projects are resisted by local communities, particularly in Panguipulli, which is predominantly Mapuche.

Marchese’s job with Troyenko has been to conduct informational sessions with the communities that would be affected by the development projects. Troyenko’s claims its policy regarding the projects has been one of active dialog with the local community. But local activists disagree, claiming Troyenko’s representatives have been only arrogant and unyielding to local concerns up until now.

(Talks like Endesa is currently holding in the Aysen Region: Hydroaysen Keeping Public in the Dark, Say Chile Dam Critics )

Hidroeléctrica Troyenko announced the temporary suspension of its projects in the Panguipulli region in late December due to pressure from Mapuche groups. Nils M. Huseby, SN Power’s Vice-President in Latin America , now says the Norwegian firm will certainly cancel the projects in light of Monday's attack, prematurely arriving at a decision that was supposed to made at the end of January. The company is concerned about security issues and has chastised Chile’s government for the lack of adequate security.

(Chile is already trying the Mapuche under Military Tribunals as Terrorists and ignoring them in the Judicial System. How much more repression does the Norwegian Government want? See: Chile’s century-long policy of discrimination and dispossession endures , Mapuche lands serve as garbage dump for Chilean Nation - United Nations investigates Environmental Discrimination , Small Mapuche community rests all of its hopes on a group of strangers in far-away Washington, DC - Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) )

CAM director Patricio Nekul stated his organization had nothing to do with Monday's attack and described CAM's mission as the “recuperation of indigenous land.” The organization has launched several campaigns against various national and multinational corporations that run operations on indigenous property, including campaigns against energy company Endesa and forestry company Arauco.

(More about Endesa and the Mapuche here:

Journeyman Pictures presents "Damming of the Biobio River" - Endesa SA verses the Mapuche - What to expect from Endesa during the HydroAysen struggle.

Switch Off - 2004 Documentary of the Mapuche struggle against the international energy conglomerate, Endesa SA

Endesa Strategy & Tactics I – Revisiting the Ralco & Pangue Hydroelectric Projects on the Rio Bio Bio )

Nekul assured the press that an attack like this is completely outside CAM’s ideals and methods and insisted that the presence of handwritten fliers is not sufficient evidence to implicate his organization.

The Observatory for the Rights of Indigenous People later released a statement about the attack, denouncing all forms of violence as contrary to their goal of promoting inter-ethnic relations.

“We cannot avoid expressing our surprise in regard to these acts,” said their communiqué. “CAM has limited its territorial actions to the Arauco-Malleco region, and is not one of the organizations that has any presence in the region where Trayenko plans to build the dams … an act of this type doesn't hold any logic for the communities affected by (the Trayenko projects).”

The case is currently under investigation by the Eastern Metropolitan Prosecutor’s Office in Las Condes.

Here is the full article.

Norway's SN Power (Statkraft Norfund) suspends $600 million hydro-electric project in Chile's Mapuche heartland after virulent local protests.

Translated by Google:

Following a meeting between the top executive for Latin America of the Norwegian firm and the leader of the indigenous communities on 11 December, in Oslo, the European company decided to suspend their activities.

The pressure exerted by the negative reaction and the Mapuche communities were stronger. The Norwegian company SN Power decided to suspend work on the million dollar hydroelectric project in the Region of Rivers, after opposition from its inhabitants. This suspends the work of the largest European company that is developing in the country.

The decision to postpone the activities surrounding the project was taken on December 11, in Oslo, Norway. In that country, Nils Huseby, executive vice president for Latin America SN Power, met with Peter Antimilla, representative of the Mapuche communities of Coñaripe, at the seminar "The New Conquistadors? SN Power: Hydropower in the Mapuche Territory". Antimilla explained the rejection of the communities to the construction of power stations. "We do not want interference in our territories. They say that the plants will have no impact because they will not have reservoirs, but instead will inundate 120 hectares, will drill 20 miles of tunnels and trenches 300 meters deep. Just the Central Pellaifa project will affect more than eight thousand people, " he says.

Following the presentation, said Antimilla, the Norwegian executive requested a meeting. "We met for four hours and a pledge was made that all works related to the project will be suspended until the principal directors of the company will meet with all the affected communities," he says. The meeting with the residents, he added, will take place at the Region X by the end of January.

The day after the meeting in Oslo, Huseby sent a letter to Antimilla. "I would like to reiterate our desire and commitment to meet with representatives of indigenous communities, at a time and date suggested by you in January 2008, to hear thier position on our projects and to establish the principles of a possible dialogue," says the missive. It adds that "we confirm our commitment to maintain the current suspension of activities related to our projects until that meeting has been made." Antimilla said that "for us it is a very important measure, because although not yet started, construction of the plants was halted as well as all work for collecting information." In addition, he explains, in the Oslo meeting, Huseby raised two options for the future construction of the four plants. "He said that one way might be to move the project elsewhere or make the project smaller."

Regarding the meeting, Huseby added that "hope will be a first step in establishing a permanent and fruitful dialogue, so that the project’s design contributes to the sustainable development of the areas where located (...) We are conducting a comprehensive process of meetings, we have collected more than 1,000 people in the area, representing 25 organizations and we opened information offices in Coñaripe, Liquiñe, Panguipulli and Futrono, to fully cover the area and create meeting places. "

The suspension could delay the launch of the project.

What are the details of this million-dollar hydroelectric project?

The project involves an investment of more than $ 600 million and will add 580 megawatts (MW) of power to the Central Interconnected System (SIC) in the coming years. At the forefront, is the leading hydroelectric generator, SN Power of Norway and the second largest generator of renewable energy in Europe.

Through its subsidiary Hydro-Trayenko, where it has 80% of the property and is linked to the Chilean businessman Gustavo Pavez, with the other 20% - the foreign firm conducts feasibility and technical studies and exploratory analysis for the construction of four hydroelectric plants in Region X in the communes of Panguipulli, Futrono and Lago Ranco. These run of the river plants (without reservoir) are: Pellaifa (108 MW), Maqueo (320 MW), Liquiñe (118 MW) and Reyehueico (34 MW).

According to the timetable, the decision to commence will be taken in 2009. The entry into operation of the four projects was scheduled for 2013.

Here is the original article.

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To see how the Mapuche benefited from the last hydro-project in their land, read:

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Power for the Mapuches but not for Uganda- Norwegian Government owner, SN Power, pulls out of Uganda hydroelectric venture citing economic unviability

SN Power pulls out of unviable Uganda power projects

Norwegian multinational hydropower developer and operator Statkraft Norfund Power Invest AS (SN Power) is pulling out of four mini-hydropower dam projects in western Uganda.

Though the pullout is on the grounds of the project’s financial viability, SN Power is selling its license to another Norwegian power firm.

SN Power announced in December 2004 that it would make Uganda its entry point for Africa in the energy sector. The government had hoped its entry would help improve Uganda’s ailing energy sector when it began generation of 43.5 Megawatts of power in six districts in western Uganda.

The company said it decided to withdraw from the projects in August this year because they were deemed financially unviable.

“SN Power gave up the Muzizi and Nengo Bridge licence rights because we realised the projects would be not be commercially viable,” said Marte Lerberg Kopstad SN Power’s external relations manager.

“The Waki and Bugoye projects were developed to the point of investment decision, but SN Power decided not to go further as they did not fit our corporate strategy and the commercial viability was not strong enough.”

Mr Kopstad told The EastAfrican that SN power had decided to sell its rights to Norwegian power company Troenderenergi. This will now mean that residents of western Uganda will have to put up with irregular or no power supplies longer than the 24-month construction period.

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Energy Commissioner Paul Mubiru however said the pullout does not spell doom for the western districts as Troenderenergi is already preparing to continue with construction work at these sites.

The relatively small hydropower stations are expected to cost between $50 million and $60 million.

The Norwegian government, with some 100 years of experience in developing hydropower, owns SN Power. The company, licensed in November 2004 by the Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERA), was expected to demonstrate its expertise on four sites in western Uganda.

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About five per cent of Uganda’s population has access to electricity, and the 250MW Bujagali hydropower project under construction and eight other mini-hydropower projects are expected to expand production to another 15 per cent of the population and attract more industries to a country where domestic usage accounts for 70 per cent of power consumption.


(Read about what Norway's SN Power intends for Chile's indigenous Mapuche people: Mapuche Protest against Norwegian Hydroelectric Power , Norwegian Power Projects in Mapuche, Chile Heartland Plunder Environment )

Here is the full article.

Mapuche Protest against Norwegian Hydroelectric Power

The indigenous Mapuche population is escalating its struggle against the plans for hydroelectric industry in an important tourist area. SN Power claims it has local support in Chile.

The Norwegian hydroelectric power giant SN Power has big plans for Chile. The company has already started constructing one plant and has another four projects on the drawing pad.

The planned plants have a total value of about NOK 3 billion (391 million €) and will be larger than any other investment the company has made abroad. SN Power, which is jointly owned by Statkraft and Norfund, believes it has nothing to worry about. “We perceive that the majority of the local population now welcomes the projects and considers this a possibility for jobs and local economic development,” SN Power told Norwatch.

The Chilean critics do not agree. “The resistance has never been greater,” claimed anthropologist Silvia Schoenenberger in the human rights organisation Observatorio de Derechos de los Pueblos Indígenos.

Chile’s indigenous population, the Mapuche Indians, have attempted to stop three of the company’s four planned projects. In September the Chilean Mapuches protested against the Norwegian hydroelectric project. Posters against the project have been hung along the roads in the area, and activists travel from village to village to mobilise against the hydroelectric plants.

The Mapuches have in the past century been marginalised in large areas of their traditional habitat in Chile. One of the main areas for their culture is today in the mountains in the eastern part of the country. There they to a great extent live on tourism. The Mapuche fear that the hydroelectric project will threaten their livelihood.

The Dictatorship Laid the Premises

“The company bought the rights to this water without considering that it is located in the middle of Mapuche territory”, anthropologist Schoenenberger told Norwatch.

She said the problem of water rights in Chile can be traced back to the time of the dictatorship. Then it became possible for individuals and companies to buy the right to rivers. As a result, many of the rivers in southern Chile are in the hands of national and international companies. These quickly end up in conflict with indigenous populations and other Chileans who have traditionally made use of the water.

According to Schoenenberger, the river water to which SN Power has bought the rights is already being used by local communities in the area. The water is important both for animal husbandry and agricultural purposes, and the population is unsure whether there is enough water for both the company and themselves.

“The importance of the water and the rivers to the Mapuche communities furthermore extends far beyond the simple use of the water”, said Schoenenberger and explained that the rivers have a deeply religious meaning to the inhabitants.

Critical Mayor

One of the mayors in the region, Alejandro Kohler, has also taken up the fight against the project. At a demonstration in September the mayor made an appeal against the plans. “Today there is a growing development in the tourist industry here. My opinion as a mayor is that the plants that may possibly be constructed here will disturb the development of the tourist industry”, Kohler told a Chilean newspaper.

“We must oppose a plant of this dimension, for it is not a matter of just one but at least three or four plants. That will have an extremely negative effect on our area, on our people and on our nature”, Kohler said.

Here is the full article.