Syria’s second largest dam doesn’t supply government and opposition areas with electricity
Tishreen dam which is the second largest dam in Syria in terms of size, the amount of electricity power generated and the amount of water it stores, supplies SDF controlled areas in northern Syria and not government and opposition ones.
The dam lies on the Euphrates in the countryside of Minbij city north-east of Aleppo. It is 115 km far from Aleppo and 80 km from Turkish borders.
While the Euphrates dam in Altabqa city (west of Raqqa) is the biggest dam in Syria and Al-Hurria dam (formerly Al-Baath) that lies in the west of Raqqa is the third one, all of these three dams are under the control of Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
Behind Tishreen dam, lies Tishreen lake. The capacity of water tank is 1.9 billion cubic meters and the main purpose behind building it, is generating electricity. The length of the dam is 900 meters, its base width is 290 m, while the width of the dam at the top is 20 m and its height is 40 m.
The size of the lake is 155 km², the natural supply level is 325m above sea level, while the length of the hydroelectric station is 270m, the width is 72m and the height is 72m.
The dam “technically”
Walat Darwish, co-chair of energy bureau in north and east of Syria said to North Press that the situation of the dam is good technically comparing with its situation before the defeat of IS militants in 2016.
The dam contains six turbines and all of them are ready to work completely, each one of them generates electric power of about 105 megawatt per hour.
Darwish stated that the rest dams on the Euphrates river (The Euphrates and Al-Hurria) arevnot as they must be, pointing out that there isn’t any other electric power in north and east of Syria but some gas turbines in Rumeilan and Sweidiyeh in Al-Jazira district which generate a little amount of electric power.
Tishreen dam was built in 1980s and in 1999 began to effectively produce electricity, the dam was designed by Russian Hydroproject Institute, while the equipment was financed by two loans from the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development and the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic and Social Development.
The electrical and mechanical equipment of the dam has been brought from Sichuan Import and Export Company, while the civil work of the project was done by General Company for Syrian Water Projects and the implementation of the civil works and accessories and the installation of the hydroelectric station was completed by the Syrian General Company for Building and Construction.
Water supply
The number of workers in the dam before the Syrian crisis in 2011 was 600, while now there are only 300 workers including 30 engineers.
Co-chair of energy bureau in north and east of Syria stated that the production of electric power of the dams depends on water coming from Turkey, pointing out that Turkey is fighting Self-Administration by determining the amount of water it pumps to the Syrian side despite the agreement between Syria, Iraq and Turkey about the distribution of water.
Each turbines at Tishreen dam needs 450 m³ of water per second to produce 105 mega, while the Euphrates dam needs 240 m³ per second to produce 105 mega.
The amount of water comes from Turkey is uneven and varies from month to another, “Turkey is using water for agricultural purposes in its lands, the water it pumps to Syria isn’t constant, when water flood and overflows due to rainfall, Turkey is forced to pump good amounts of water, especially during the past two months” according to co-chair of energy bureau.
Darwish pointed that the hours of producing electric power was reduced from 24 to 8 or 6 hours a day last summer because of lack of water coming from Turkey.
Electricity distribution
“Electric power is being distributed from the dams according to the need of each region, the capacity of the dams and the water pumps from Turkey.
Kobani/Ain Al-Arab and Minbij gets 50 megawatt per hour nearly, Altabqa 20 megawatt and Raqqa 60 only, because stations and transfer facilities are under maintenance, while Deir Ez-Zour countryside gets 20 megawatt only due to the devastation in Deir Ez-Zour stations, AlJazira region on the other side, gets 100 megawatt because it is the most spacious areas” as the person in charge of energy field stated.
The production of electric power varies from one dam to another according to the climate season, in summer and winter, for example, there is a need to produce a big amount of electric power, electricity production hours is limited, all the areas in north and east of Syria get the same amount of production, but the difference lies in the distribution due to codification, AlJazira region for example gets about 24 hours a day, but transfer facilities regulate in some areas and cities.
Coordination
Walat Darwish, co-chair of energy bureau in north and east of Syria confirmed that there isn’t any direct coordination between Self-Administration and Syrian government concerning dams management on the Euphrates river.
In turn, Muhammad Khalil, a technical engineer in the operations room of Tishreen dam stated that as a result of water income, three to four turbines are operated at primetime and the current water income reaches 700 m³ per second, pointing out that technical, electrical and laboratory matters at Tishreen dam are excellent.
The Syrian electricity network was connected in a loop. All the electrical, water, gas and thermal stations were connected together, while Tishreen dam was a reserve dam operated and connected to the network at the time of need to supplement the public network and it was being stopped to rely on the thermal and gas stations when the water level was low.
The dam includes several sections (department of mechanics, department of electricity, department of laboratory, department of operations, etc ..) which in turn maintain the turbines. The dam is protected in several ways which maintain the technical equipment in cases of emergency shutdown, separation of the network, etc. where the turbine protects itself by itself.
Khalil stated that the dam produces 220 – 230 kilo volt of electricity from the general network and it is transferred to Tishreen and Mabrouka stations and the stations transfer it to 66 kilo volt which in turn transfer it sequentially to 20 kilo volt for electric stations in the cities which distribute it to the inhabitants in the cities and countryside.
The dam supplies Al-Khafsa station east of Aleppo, where Syrian government is in control, with electricity in order to supply Minbij with clean water.
Land Acquisition
Syrian government acquired the lands of Al-Qishla village which lies 3 km west to Tishreen dam to build the dam, in 1988 it provided compensation to the inhabitants contained 5 tons of cement and 1 ton of iron as well as providing them with lands in Maskana town with the same size nearly and it paid 30.000 to 50.000 SYP as a compensation for the loss of houses, as the inhabitants of Al-Qishla village stated.
One of the inhabitants in the village explained that the residents benefited from the paving of roads, the access of electricity and pumping stations to the village, but they lost their agricultural lands where they were growing cotton and corn.
He pointed out that the electricity currently reaches the village at a rate of 20 hours a day, but the young people of village lost their jobs that was limited to fishing in certain seasons.
Syrian Democratic Forces defeated IS militants on Tishreen dam on December 26, 2015.
Syria -Minbij-NPA