Paper short abstract:

Mining creates massive energy demands that also attract sustainable energy production. In the Markham Valley of Papua New Guinea, eucalyptus plantations for biomass energy and new power transmission lines shape the emerging energyscapes, wherein new forms of social and political conflicts arise.

Paper long abstract:

As the panel investigates what new energy solutions could mean for mining encounters, this paper focuses on the fact that large-scale mining requires massive amounts of energy, which in today's policy environment also creates new demands for low-carbon options. The proposed Wafi-Golpu Copper/Gold Mine in Papua New Guinea's Morobe province will need 100 MW of power, which is more than double the electricity generation capacity in the Ramu grid currently supplying the industrial centre of Lae and other towns in nine provinces. New power sources are therefore needed, and while it is possible that most of the electricity will come from gas turbines or new hydro-power plants, there is also a different low-carbon project currently taking shape. PNG Biomass is in the process of planting 16'000 hectares of eucalyptus trees to eventually fuel two wood-fired power plants producing 30 MW of electricity.

This paper looks at the emerging energyscapes (Howard et al. 2013) in the Markham Valley. It examines how plans by the state and foreign aid agencies to construct new power transmission lines to guarantee electrification of 70% of the national population until 2030, intersect with the lived reality of the local Wampar population, who while only partly able to access electricity are living next to power pylons and plant hectares of eucalyptus trees. While the energy demands of the mine and plans for rural electrification create new jobs and economic opportunities for some, they also disenfranchise others and generate new conflicts over land and political power.