Safety and Hydro Asset Management: Capacity building in Asia

Dr Patrice Droz Mr U Min Khaing Dr Federico Ferranti Dr Stefan Muetzenberg Stucky Ltd Ministry of Electricity and Stucky Asia Stucky Ltd Rue du Lac 33 Energy 10/161, 19th floor, Trendy Rue du Lac 33 1020 Renens Department of Hydro Office Bldg Soi Sukhumvit 13 1020 Renens Switzerland Power Implementation (Sangchan) North Klong Toey, Switzerland Building No 27 Wattana Nay Pyi Taw – TH-10110 Bangkok Thaïlande

Introduction Capacity building and training are becoming major issues, either in the domain of dam safety or in the framework of operation and maintenance of hydropower plants.

In the domain of dam safety, many countries face an absence or a poor dam safety regulatory framework as well as dedicated procedures for ensuring the sustainability of their : although some monitoring instrumentation is installed, no systematic analysis is performed; no independent assessment of the behaviour and of the evolution of the structure is made. Dam safety issues are treated on a reactive basis although a proactive attitude should be adopted. A proactive dam safety basis leads the owner of the dam, whatever its own structure might be, public or private, to a politics of asset management which is highly valuable in terms of maintenance budget and investment strategy. This phenomenon is particularly acute for small and medium dams.

Rehabilitating hydropower plants often leads to the question of sustainability after rehabilitation: operation procedures and maintenance plans may not be followed and the training performed in the framework of the HPP is limited to the plant and is not used as an example to promote sustainability of other plants of the energy producer.

The paper presents the Dam Safety Enhancement Program (DaSEP) and its programs of knowledge transfer between Switzerland and China and Switzerland and Myanmar. The programs aimed at preventing the risks of failure through the improvement of the surveillance and maintenance of the water retention structures. It also describes the main objectives of capacity building and corporate governance to be reached in the framework of the At Bashy HPP rehabilitation project in Kirghizstan.

1. Dam Safety Enhancement Program in China 1.1 China’s water storage issues China counts some 98'002 dams including 756 large dams (volume of the reservoir > 100 million m3), 3’938 of medium importance (10-100 million m3) and 93’308 small ones (0.1-10 million m3) [1]. With almost 98’000 dams, of which some 9’000 are over 30 meters high, China presents the largest number of dams in the world. The total storage capacity of artificial lakes and reservoirs reaches 830 km3, which is about 30% of the total annual river runoff of 2’711 km3 [2], [1].

Given the climate change impacts [3], [4], [5], the China’s storage infrastructure will play an increasingly important role in water resource and watershed management in the future. Facing the number of dams, especially the small and medium ones, there is an urgent need to improve the surveillance and the maintenance of existing China water storage infrastructure.

The Dam Safety Enhancement Program (DaSEP-China) consists in implementing a cooperation program between Switzerland and China, in order to improve the management of the surveillance of the existing dams through a transfer of know-how related to methods, practices, information flows and organization in the field of surveillance and monitoring of dams under the responsibility of the Ministry of Water Resources.

1.2 Dam Surveillance in Switzerland The Swiss dam safety concept applies to all dams, whatever their purpose. It is based on the three following pillars [7]: . structural safety, mainly regarding design of the dam . surveillance of the dam behavior and its environment . emergency preparedness and alarm

Most of the medium and large dams in Switzerland have been built between 1950 and 1980. After successful dam commissioning, the dam Owners could benefit from several decades of safe and quiet routine dam operation, usually without observing any dam abnormal behavior. This favorable situation gradually changed: after 50 years, the effect of aging is beginning to impact the dams. This situation has required from the dam Owner as well as the Federal Dam Supervisory Authority much more attention and surveillance in order to assure a safe operation of the dams.

The global surveillance and maintenance concept of Swiss dams is defined by the flow chart illustrated in the Figure below. The organization of the dam surveillance in Switzerland calls for four competence and responsibility levels:

Level 1 The dam warden proceeds to periodical detailed visual inspection, measurements with adapted monitoring equipments. Tests and checks of the monitoring and safety equipment such as bottom outlet gates are also performed under his responsibility as well as the necessary maintenance works.

Level 2 An experienced engineer nominated by the dam owner and accepted by the Dam Supervisory Authority analyses regularly the results of the monitoring measurements in order to identify behaviour anomalies of the structure. With the dam wardens, he performs an annual inspection of the dam and prepares an annual report.

Figure 1. Global surveillance and maintenance concept (Source: Swiss guidelines, Swiss Federal Office for Energy, Dam Safety Supervisory Authority)

Level 3 Only for the largest dams, two confirmed independent experts, one civil engineer and one geologist, proposed by the dam owner and approved by the Authority, assess every five years the safety of the dam. The engineer makes a thorough inspection of the structure condition, analyses the behaviour of the dam and its foundations on the basis of the annual reports of the period. In case of anomaly, he provides recommendations on measures to be taken and on the serviceability of the dam. He checks the condition and the maintenance of the structure and of its monitoring system. He prepares a report to the Owner and to the Dam Supervisory Authority, in which he exposes his observations and recommendations. The geologist assesses the behaviour of the dam abutments and foundation, as well as of the reservoir banks.

The Dam Supervisory Authority (Level 4) controls the organization of the three levels above and makes sure that the various procedures and documents are in line with the legal dam safety framework. If necessary, complementary studies and analyses may be requested, as well as temporary lowering of the reservoir level before rehabilitation or repair measures.

The Figure below summarizes the four levels of the dam surveillance concept described here above. The owner’s and operator’s experiences demonstrate the critical importance of the Levels 1 and 2 in the organization of the dam surveillance.

Figure 2. Organization chart of the four dam safety levels (height > 40m or height > 10m and reservoir volume > 1 Mm3)

The premonitory signs of a disorder of the structure can generally be observed through the evolution of relevant monitored parameters and visually before it evolves towards a critical or fateful situation on a safety point of view.

The risk prevention thus relies primarily on: . The detection by the dam warden (Level 1) of premonitory signs of a disorder in the structure. . The preliminary analysis by the specialist (Level 2) of the observations and measurements made at Level 1.

1.3 Dam surveillance in China The organization of dam safety in China depends not only on the dimension of the reservoir, rather than the dam itself, but also on the purpose of the dam. Hence, dams dedicated to flood control, irrigation and water supply have distinct administrative procedures from those dedicated to hydropower. Nevertheless, the Ministry of Water Resources (MWR) is responsible for the safety of most of the dams in China.

Dam safety is supported by a comprehensive regulatory framework defining in particular responsibilities, design standards, reservoir management and emergency preparedness plans. Technical specifications for monitoring are also defined. For the dams depending on the MWR, in general, large dams are under the responsibility of the Provincial Water Resources Dpt., medium size dams under the responsibility of the Prefectures or Cities and the small ones under the responsibility of the districts or townships.

The reservoir management in terms of operation, inspection and monitoring is often assumed by Reservoir Management Units (RMU) who report to either the Provincial Water Resources Dpt., or to the equivalent at the district or city level. The RMU's must produce a yearly planning report describing the forecasted operations schedules.

If some abnormality is detected through visual inspections, a report is prepared and sent to the above administrative level. The report contains the monitoring data collected if any. For the small and medium dams, no systematic analysis of these data is performed prior to the identification of the abnormality. Before the flood season, an inspection or a coordination meeting is organized by the above administrative level to make sure that the dam and its appurtenant structures will function correctly.

If State funding allocation is required for Dam improvements, the above administrative level is informed and the Dam Safety Management Center expertise is requested for Dam Safety Review.

1.4 Comparison between Swiss and Chinese dam surveillance procedures . In China, most of the dams are aiming at flood protection and used for water supply for domestic and irrigation purposes. In Switzerland, all the large dams are dedicated to power generation. . In China, there is no systematic reporting for the small and medium dams. Therefore the procedure can be qualified as reactive instead of the Swiss procedure which is more proactive, trying to detect defects as early as possible. . In China, the enforcement tools seem reduced since the usefulness of each dam is essential for flood protection and water supply. In Switzerland, the Dam Supervisory Authority has the power to impose the dam owner to lower the reservoir level in case of abnormal behaviour which may present a risky situation to the populations living downstream.

1.5 Development of the Dam Safety Enhancement Program The Dam Safety Enhancement Program (DaSEP-China) inscribes itself within the framework of a cooperation program signed between the two countries. It started in 2010 and ended in 2016. The DaSEP-China presents 3 aspects: . Assistance to the MWR in revising the Chinese dam safety management plan . Training of Chinese professionals . Assistance to the MWR to test the application of Swiss procedures within the Chinese context in a comprehensive pilot demonstrative project situated in a Chinese Province

Preliminary missions gave the opportunity to describe in situ the dam safety concepts in the two countries and in particular to give detailed information on the role of each responsibility level involved in the safety of dams [1], [7]. During the mission in China of the Swiss members of DaSEP-China in May 2012, it has been decided to apply the Swiss procedures for the surveillance of dams to a set of dams in Sichuan. Seven dams have been selected and a mission was organized in December 2012 in order to perform visual inspections of each dam and to collect the data to prepare annual dam safety reports exactly as if the dams were located in Switzerland, using the same methodology and the same typical table of content for preparing the annual visual inspection reports and annual dam safety reports.

The presentations of the procedures and the results have been made during a workshop organized by the Nanjing Hydraulic Research Institute and the Dam Safety Center (NHRI/DSMC) in May 2013. The workshop demonstrated the effectiveness of the dam safety procedures applied in Switzerland within the Chinese context for small and medium dams.

Based on the result of the pilot project applied to these seven dams, two training workshop were organized in Switzerland in October 2013 and 2015. These training sessions were based on the main findings of the previous missions and activities. The objective was to train the future trainers who had to disseminate procedures aiming at enhancing dam surveillance practice in China. The main goals were: . to provide an introduction to Swiss dam surveillance practices, with a particular focus given on managing and controlling the dam surveillance organization . to describe the major role played by the dam warden "Level 1" who collects monitoring data and the experienced engineer "Level 2" who analyses them in the framework of a 4-level surveillance concept . to describe the principles, concepts and procedures applicable to any dam Owner or Operator conducting dam inspections and evaluating their compliance with safety standards . to emphasize the importance of monitoring data acquisition, the importance of monitoring data validation and the importance of monitoring data analysis in the perspective of a proactive dam surveillance management . to identify the practices suitable to China that would be later disseminated in China with the support of the participants under the guidance of the MWR/Dam Safety Management Center.

The trained specialists became trainers in China for disseminating enhanced surveillance and monitoring practices all over China. The main objective was to raise awareness of the whole decision chain involved in dam safety, from the Dam Supervisory Authority down to the dam warden. The importance of the proactive and systematic analysis of monitoring data was pointed out as a necessary preventive measure regarding the behaviour of dams.

1.6 Main outcomes The second dissemination workshop organized in China in April 2016, represented the last step of the Dam Safety Enhancement Program. At the end of the workshop the main outcomes of the program which lasted almost 6 years were summarized.

On the Chinese side, the DaSEP-China project had several significant results based on: . various trainings and exchanges regarding either technical, organizational or procedural aspects . useful examples of visual inspection reports and annual safety assessment reports performed on Chinese dams in Sichuan, as if they were located in Switzerland and as if they were subjected to the Swiss practice.

The main outcomes of DaSEP-China refer to the revision of the Regulations for Reservoir Dam Safety Management in the following terms: . clear redefinition of roles and responsibilities for dam surveillance . strengthening dam safety regulation enforcement . establishing an annual reporting system . introducing pooling of human resources for management of small dams

On the Swiss side, for the preparation of the training material intended to Chinese trainees, Swiss trainers had to formalize and synthesize the Swiss dam surveillance concepts. This comprehensive review and the renewed perspective given by the crossed look of Chinese experts lead to an enrichment and a higher ownership of the Swiss surveillance concept. It was also recognized that revising the Swiss surveillance concept could benefit the young generation of Swiss engineers. For example, the last Technical Days organized in 2013, 2014 and 2015 by the Swiss Committee for Dams (Swiss Dams) stressed the importance of the Level 1 and Level 2 and monitoring. These workshops gave a comprehensive review of the Swiss Dam safety concept for younger Swiss engineers and dam surveillance staff.

2. Dam Safety Enhancement Program in Myanmar 2.1 Introduction The Dam Safety Enhancement Program-Myanmar (DaSEP-Myanmar) consisted in implementing cooperation activities between Switzerland and Myanmar in order to improve the management of dam safety in the latter country through the transfer of suitable methods, practices, and procedures in the field of surveillance and monitoring of dams. The Department of Hydropower Implementation of the Ministry of Electricity and Energy has been selected as the main counterpart of this cooperation program in Myanmar. The program was based on a similar program which has been developed between Switzerland and China from 2010 to 2016. The DaSEP-Myanmar presented 2 aspects: . Training on Dam Safety for professionals from Myanmar . Demonstrative project aiming at preparing Visual Inspection Reports and Annual Safety Reports of 2 , following the Swiss practices.

The 2 dams under study within DaSEP-Myanmar were: . Yeywa RCC gravity dam . Shwegyin embankment dam

2.2 Training The training sessions were held on August 29th and 30th, 2017 in the training room of DHPI in Nay Pyi Taw. It gathered 23 dam engineers, among them, 2 from the Ministry of Agriculture who owns and operates several dams dedicated to irrigation and water supply.

The presentations were not only limited to technical aspects but cover also the important issues of the definition or the improvement of a Dam Safety Regulatory Framework. It emphasized also the benefit the Owner of dams gains in using the tools offered by a comprehensive Dam Safety for defining a strategy of rehabilitation and maintenance of his assets by adopting a proactive rather than a reactive approach to dam safety issues.

The following main subjects were covered during the training sessions, covering the various aspects of dam safety, from technical to organizational aspects: . hazards related to dams . objectives of dam safety . reactive or proactive dam safety strategy . necessity to have a Dam Safety Regulatory Framework . beneficiaries of dam safety and importance to the dam owner and asset manager . organization of dam safety, roles and responsibilities . content of a Dam Safety Regulatory Framework (Dam Safety Concept) . dam surveillance instrumentation: simple, reliable, durable . surveillance of dams, procedures and consequences . documents supporting dam safety . experience and outcome of Dam Safety Enhancement project in China

In addition, a complementary training session was organized to introduce the free software DamReg developed for the Swiss Federal Office for Energy (DamReg). This software enables to define drifts in movement getting rid of the effect of water level in the reservoir and temperature variations by statistical analysis. Thus, only irreversible movements due to concrete or foundation behavior are detected. Although the level of surveillance of the main dams in Myanmar appears to be of high level, several improvements have been proposed during these workshops and training sessions, pointing out the importance of: . instrumenting . maintaining . checking . analyzing . reporting . supervising for an optimal surveillance of the dams.

2.3 Visual inspection Both visited dams appeared to be in excellent conditions, showing no apparent safety issues. The dams and their appurtenant structures are globally well maintained. For Shwegyin embankment dam, due to the recent scouring phenomenon at the outlet of the tailrace channel of the spillway and the consecutive maintenance works, a particular attention must be devoted to this issue and attentive surveillance is needed. The instrumentation is in good state although some improvements can be made essentially regarding the geodetic network and the procedure for measuring the displacements for Shwegyin dam and regarding the pendulums and the seepage measurement weirs for Yeywa dam.

2.4 Annual safety reports The main points which should be developed in an Annual Safety Report have been developed in a specific document. The following recommendations were made: 1. check systematically the plausibility and the validity of the data 2. if a value is not plausible or does not correspond to a normal trend, repeat the measurement 3. analyze the data with a critical view point 4. comment the results 5. identify trends and drifts using DamReg 6. comment the trend and drift 7. cross-check the results between parameters (for instance displacements obtain from pendulum measurements and from geodetic survey) 8. if predefined limits are reached, the following actions may be taken: . intensify inspections and monitoring to verify the situation or to obtain additional information . undertake technical rehabilitation measures (if time allows) . consider restriction in operation (for example by limiting the maximum water level) . implement a precautionary decrease of the reservoir level, or eventually complete drawdown

3. Rehabilitation of the At Bashy HPP 3.1 General background Kyrgyzstan has a very high potential for hydropower, estimated more than 142 TWh per year, of which less than 10% is currently utilized. Hydropower is its most important energy product for export and domestic consumption, which makes the electricity sector a key factor of economic development and growth. Sixteen HPP's are currently operating in the Kyrgyz Republic, with an installed capacity of 3072 MW representing 80% of the total installed capacity in the country. The annual electricity production varies from 12 to 15 TWh, mainly depending on the Naryn River flow. The hydropower sector forms more than 90% of the country total electricity production; the rest is generated by thermal power plants.

At-Bashy HPP is located on the At-Bashy River, a tributary of the Naryn River, joining it in its upper reaches. With its installed capacity of 40 MW, it ranks 6th amongst the biggest in the country. Its average long term annual generation is about 147 GWh, while its design output is 160 GWh for a production period of 4000 hours annually. At-Bashy is a plant with daily regulation. The reservoir capacity is 7.1 million m3 which is low compared with the runoff of the At-Bashy river. At-Bashy HPP is very important for the region; it covers 30% of the region’s demand and regulates voltage in the grid and peak demands in winter period. It is owned and operated by the OJSC Electric Power Plants. Although all four units are operational, after more than 45 years of operation, the HPP needs an in- depth rehabilitation program.

Figure 3. Generator floor of At-Bashy HPP

3.2 Rehabilitation project: two Components The project core is to realize the technical rehabilitation of the At Bashy Hydro Power Plant, by execution of the five tasks in Component A as described in the figure below.

Task 1: Inception and Planning of the IC-Contract +

Task 2: Design and Implementation Planning +

Task 3: Tender Doc. and Contract Award for Rehab. Contracts +

Component A Task 4: Rehabilitation Contracts Implementation + Task 5: Closing of the Project =

Result: Rehabilitated HPP – At Bashy  A1: Electro Mechanical Equipment  A2: Hydro Mechanical Equipment  A3: Civil Works and Powerhouse Auxiliary Equipment + Task 6: Corporate Governance Data System

+ Task 7: Claim Management Capacity Building

+ Task 8: Preventive Maintenance Capacity

Component B + Task 9: Final Review and Transition to HPP-Organization =

Result: Sustainable HPP and Responsible Operator  Management Information System – for efficient decision-making  Quality Management – for proactive O&M  Risk Management – for Claims protection & Corporate Citizenship

Figure 4. At Bashy HPP Rehabilitation Project Structure and intended Results

Actually, Component A provides the technical basis for the At Bashy HPP project and Component B is necessary to better position the operator for long-term, sustainable operations over the economic life of the HPP, as a responsible member of the Kyrgyzstan energy and water sectors. The technical path alone is insufficient to attain the project objectives. Indeed, the rehabilitation works are correctly complemented by four institutional tasks of Component B. The implementation of the Component A and B must be considered as a matrix: for each aspects of one Component, several aspects of the other Component are activated. For example, Claim Management Capacity Building is clearly activated during Tender Documents and Contract Award.

3.3 Approach for Establishing Corporate Governance Data System The capacity and ability of a company to collect, manage, interpret, take decisions and then act on its performance data is a key to the success of the company. Accordingly, a Corporate Governance Data / Management Information System (MIS) is the basis of a modern Hydro Power Plant. The key challenge is to make the MIS relevant so that managers and key staff understand and rely on the data interpretation for execution of their daily as well as strategic tasks.

3.4 Claim Management Capacity Building The relevance of this element starts during works implementation and continues well after the completion of works. Specifically, since the At Bashy HPP is based on use of water, a “common” and state owned resource, the JSC performance and practice in water resource management and power generation is of interest to stakeholders in the country and region, including the HPP's located downstream. Claims due to insufficient production and public harm present an ever greater financial risk to companies facing the possibility of litigation in a wide variety of business areas.

It shall be noted that Claims may come from the Contractors but also from local community, NGO’s, local Government, local industries etc. therefore a professional and systematic approach dealing with these claims is paramount to avoid escalation.

Therefore, in consideration of this prominent role, it is proposed to consider and incorporate the elements of Corporate Citizenship based on . Environmental sustainability . Community involvement . Ethical business-marketing practices

3.5 Preventative Maintenance Capacity Building The significance of this task is to support and develop a lasting culture for a proactive approach in the maintenance of the HPP and its equipment. Therefore, building procedural and human resource capacities in preventive maintenance, as an element of its Quality Management Plan, are the objective of this task. This should take steps to develop a business culture of proactive vigilance in the JSC technical staff. Of course, this aspect will also be supported by a Computerized Maintenance Management System linked to the SCADA adapting the preventive maintenance forecasts for each generating unit to operation data.

Hence, the rehabilitation of the 4 x 10 MW HPP of At Bashy in Kirgizstan integrates a large program dedicated to capacity building orientated towards corporate governance improvement, management information system, preventive maintenance management and claim management capacity. The capacity building program is foreseen to extend also to the energy producer who will have in hand appropriate information in advance in order to prepare the necessary maintenance investments. Water resources management and dam safety issues will also be integrated into the program.

4. Acknowledgements The DaSEP-China project would not have been possible without the help of the Swiss Federal Office for Energy, the Swiss Federal Office for Environment and the strong support of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, ALPIQ Ltd, as well as the Chinese Ministry for Water Resources, the Nanjing Hydraulic Research Institute, the Dam Safety Management Center and the Water Resources Department of Sichuan Province. The DaSEP-Myanmar project was made possible by the financial support of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and the logistic support of the Department of Hydropower Implementation of the Ministry of Electricity and Energy, Nay Pyi Taw. The At Bashy HPP rehabilition project is made possible by the strong financial support of the Swiss Secretariat for Economy as well as the OJSC Electric Power Plants, Bishkek.

References

[1] BULLETIN OF FIRST NATIONAL CENSUS FOR WATER, Ministry of Water Resources, National Bureau of Statistics, P. R. China [2] Aquastat, “China: Geography, climate and population”, FAO, 2010 [3] China’s State Council Office, “China’s actions for disaster prevention and reduction”, White Paper, Beijing, 2009 [4] Shourong Wang & Zuqiang Zhang, “Effect of climate change on water resources in China”, Climate Research, Vol- 47:77-82, 2011 [5] National Climate Center, China Meteorological Administration, 1998 “The severe flooding over China in Summer 1998 and climate anomalies”, China Meteorological Press, Beijing, cited in [6] [6] IPCC Third Assessment Report (TAR3), Climate Change 2001, WG II, section 9.5.1 [7] Swiss legislation, OSOA 712 102

The Authors

Dr Patrice Droz is a civil engineer with a track record in dam safety and hydraulic issues. He is currently expert for the safety of several dams in Switzerland and involved in the safety assessment of several dams in the world. He is a member of the following associations: Swiss Society of Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics (SGEB), Swiss Committee On Dams (SwissDams), International Hydropower Association (IHA). He is also a member of the technical committee on "Integrated Operation of Hydropower Stations and Reservoirs" of the International Commission on Large Dams (ICOLD). Dr Droz is Technical Director by Stucky Ltd since 2002 and senior lecturer at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in charge of "Water Resources Management".

Mr. Min Khaing is Director of Design Branch, Department of Hydropower Implementation under Ministry of Electricity and Energy. He is a degree holder of B.E (Civil) from Yangon Technological University, Myanmar and M.Eng (Water Engineering and Management) from Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand. He has participated in the construction of hydropower projects such as Shwegyin, Phyu and Kun as a construction engineer. Moreover, he has been involved in the tasks of planning, design, quality control, project appraisial and feasibility evluation and design of hydropower projects as a Deputy Director and Director of Design Branch.

Dr Federico Ferranti obtained a PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of L’Aquila (Italy) where also graduated. He has matured more than 14 years of experience working in international large scale projects, in the management, design and technical assistance of hydraulic projects and hydropower plants (with a total installed capacity of 15000 MW). He has been active in Africa (Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Sierra Leone), Europe (Italy, Switzerland, Albania), Asia (Georgia, Turkey, Malaysia, India) and Middle East (Lebanon). He is specialist in project management (PMI Certified) of Hydropower Projects and Hydraulic Projects and Hydraulic specialist. Dr Ferranti is currently Director of Stucky Asia.

Dr Stefan Muetzenberg obtained a Ph.D. degree in engineering geology from the university of science and technology, ETH Zurich, Switzerland. He has gained professional experience in the studies, design and construction supervision of numerous large tunnelling and hydropower projects in Switzerland and abroad. In 2010 Dr Mützenberg joined the Gruner Group of engineering companies as member of the board and head of the international business. Since 2013 he is managing director of the Gruner Group company Stucky Ltd, specialized in dam and hydropower design, implementation and rehabilitation.