3Power Energy Group Inc (PSPW)

[kfa670]

A Look at the Shala River HPP


Since not all of us can go to Albania :)

Google Earth (GE). Man it has come a long way since the days when I first played with it. The reason they call it a HPP “cascade” becomes pretty obvious, as you can use the same water over and over in the subsequent stations.

-Looking at the snapshots keep a few things in mind:

1. GE does little justice for actual terrain and elevations.

2. There are many different types of HPP plant designs. While some of them further down the river may be the larger arch-dam type, my guess is the ones further up won't. These aren't going to Hoover sized dams. Some may be just collection sites that will then pipe the water down a penstock over X elevation drop to spin a turbine.

3. Under no certain circumstance do I know what I’m talking about. I’m just trying to get a feel for the areas, and putting names to locations to see if I can understand how this will all work. My pins don't represent actual dam sites, just general ares. I tried to get them as close to where it looked like they were in the crappy newsletter picture with the Interenergo Project pins.

4. According to the Master Agreement, 3P is going to be building a 6 site cascade. There are 8 pin sites in the newsletter photo. So, I'm not sure if the any of the pins represent an actual site, or just a possible site.

5. All these pictures are looking UPSTREAM. I'm going to assume at this point that the first three sites, Shala 1,2 and 3 are on the "Theth River" which comes down and merges with the "Black River" at Nderlysa and the two together form the "Shala River" which finds its way to Komani Lake.

Pins


Shala River HPP Cascade

An overview of the cascade.



Similar to the original pic from the 2nd Newsletter:



http://www.3powerenergy.com/sites/default/files/news/files/3power_energy_news_120826.pdf


---------------------------------------------------------------

Shala1 – (no name I could find) Practically where all the drainages for the Theth River come together out of the mountains. My guess is this is one of the smaller HPPs in the
cascade. Really hard to tell from the GE photo where a site would be located. Just kind of a general area pin based off the image in the newsletter.



---------------------------------------------------------------

Shala2 – Theth – Pretty much the same case as Shala 1. A little further down the river with a few more drainages dumping in.



---------------------------------------------------------------

Shala3 – Grunasi – Another case similar to the last two. Maybe a little more elevation drop. And steeper valley sides. This site is pictured in the most recent newsletter.



---------------------------------------------------------------

Shala4 – Nderlysaj (existing) – Questions arise here. In the newsletter picture, it says "exisiting" in one of the pin titles next to Nderlysaj like maybe a HPP already exists here? This is just a general area pin. Not sure where a station would be placed.



---------------------------------------------------------------

Shala5 – Nderlysaj (existing) – Again, this goes with the pin above. Possible HPP already here, the GE imagery is dated 2010. The Black River merges here, from a valley on the left (Theth coming in on right) Shala River the rest of the way I'm guessing. There is an actual photo in the latest newsletter showing this site. Cool part is you can see distinguishable land marks in Google Earth imagery that you can see in the photo :)

*See above pic

--------------------------------------------------------------

Shala6 – Lekaj – Now we are on the Shala, nothing exciting, just down the river a little further.





* All of the above sites IMO would likely have smaller dams and stations, due to the fact there is a lot of settlement somewhat close to the river and it doesn’t appear that there is any steep embankments where the river has cut through that make ideal places for a large arch. My guess would be some type of reservoir with penstock over a 100-200 feet of elevation drop to a station.

----------------------------------------------------------------

Shala7 - Breg-Lumi – Pretty much from the Breg on down the river, there looks to be great potential for some large dams. Mountains rise up steeply, potential to hold a lot of water back and use it during the slow parts of the year.



----------------------------------------------------------------

Shala8 – Vajvisht – Most potential IMO. Its right before the lake, no one appears to live here, the valley walls incredibly steep. I think they could easily put a 100ft tall arch type dam here. Massive water storage. In fact, from the Breg-Lumi down to the Vajvisht, it looks like to me you could put an arch anywhere. I'll bet this is the biggest on the cascade as they say in the summary that it may take up to 4 years for construction. The bulk of the MW will come from here IMO. Access looks like it might be tough.




---------------------------------------------------------------

Where's the Water?

I know a lot of the photos of the Shala region on the net that have been posted and are even available, well, are a little unimpressive. Even in Google Earth people can upload actual photos and pin them to their relevant locations. I checked out almost all the personal photo shots I could find of the Shala and Theth Valleys. Not very many of them show the actual river, but some of them do show a few streams, waterfalls etc. On the upper portions of the Theth River, its pretty hard to imagine where enough water is coming from to build a MW scale hydro station. Most of the pics it looks like little more than a stream. This had me a little discouraged. However,

https://picasaweb.google.com/albania.outdoor/Kayaking#5348671662400924978

There appears to be quite a bit of GPM in these pics :) Kayakers will no doubt be pissed later... oh well.

We are not privy to all the information either. There has been pre-feasibility studies with various options throughout the valley. They specifically talk about Option 1 in the Findings summary. I had to come back and re-read some things. If some folks are thinking there isn't enough water up there to make 100+ MW, think about this from the Findings Summary

http://irdirect.net/filings/viewer/index/1221554/000114420413016552/2

"In general the hydrology study for the discharge calculations are reasonable. The surface run-off module of the Shala river basin is one of the highest in Albania. The specific annual surface run-off modules along the Shala river basin are over 100 l/s/km2. The calculated run-off coefficient is higher than one (> 1) as checked by the three gauging stations of the Shala River. Further investigations including gauging stations and hydro-meteorological ones will increase the reliability of all data."

*** First of all, and this is somewhat misleading I think, is that the study comes up with a "calculated run-off coefficient that is higher that 1". This doesn't make a lot of sense to me. A coefficient is never higher than 1. When it pertains to surface runoff, a steel roof is like 0.98 or something, so how they are coming up with a "coefficient greater than 1" I have no idea. Maybe snowpack, maybe springs. I'm still looking into this. Even my civil engineer friends are a little perplexed.
100 l/s/km2 is also kind of tough to wrap your head around. When converted comes out to 4106GPM/mi2. This unit relates to The amount of runoff produced per given unit of area. I don't quite know how this is broken down for power generation, but they sound optimistic about it. It really just comes down to capturing it and putting it to work. Thats why they have put together this team:


The Hydro Players


Stucky (http://www.stucky.ch/en/), who recently merged with
Gruner Group (http://www.gruner.eu/gruner/home)

Details of their merger:

http://www.stucky.ch/en/Flyer_Stucky_Gruner_2013.pdf

Two huge construction and engineering firms that have been around for 100 years in Europe, with experience in Albania.

From the most recent newsletter and 8k.

Stucky was appointed to carry out a brief analysis to assess the overall technical feasibility of the project. The company will also evaluate the main constraints and related risks, assess project costs, environmental issues and cultivate a project development timeline.

On December 3, 2012, Stucky produced an initial project appraisal report. The report, based on the site visit, provided an overview of the project and an analysis of technical issues that are important to investors and other key stakeholders.

Iryllian Consulting Engineers (www.ice.al) - Found this on their website:

ICE is involved in the design and supervision of small to medium hydropower plants. The services of such projects may start from discovering, planning, feasibility study, evaluation and detail design and supervision of all the components of hydropower plants. Recently ICE is a distinguished consultant in this sector in Albania.

Facebook Page: (https://www.facebook.com/pages/ILLYRIAN-CONSULTING-ENGINEERS/110833478936073)


I'm certainly not forgetting about the other players that were mentioned like Synergics, CCI, etc. I'm unsure whether right now they have been replaced by the likes of Stucky and Illyrian, or if Stucky and Illyrian are just going to act as consultants to the consortium team. F&S was the only "consortium" member (leader?) to be recently mentioned in the last update:

Fortune and Star Co. Limited.

Fortune and Star Co. Ltd., (“F&S”) will be the official entity from the F&S Group and will lead the consortium replacing F&S Heavy Industries-Singapore. On July 15, 2012, the F&S consortium executives and engineering team traveled to Albania for data gathering and a site visit. Following the visit, the F&S team began an analysis to assess the overall technical feasibility of the project and evaluate the main constraints and related risks. In addition, F&S estimated project costs and a schedule for completion as well as environmental issues related to the development.

As a result of the analysis, F&S decided on September 20, 2012 to engage engineering firms with hydropower experience in Albania. Working with these firms will ensure that the Company meets all the environmental impact studies within a reasonable time frame. On October 15, 2012, F&S engaged Stucky Ltd. (www.stucky.ch). Stucky, a leading international firm in the field of large dams, has over one hundred major realized projects in its portfolio, with extensive experience in double-curvature arch dams and concrete gravity structures. Building on its original success in dam design, the company has diversified its activities into fields related to water, energy and the environment.

Fortune and Star, IMO, is playing the "General Contractor" role.
I still don't understand much about F&S, but I believe it to just be an entity that either (is) or represents all the consortium members.

Site visit on November 26, 2012: Each element of the proposed cascade was inspected with the F&S’s local team to gather basic project information (i.e. access roads conditions, layout, geology). The team verified the reliability of the data used for the hydrology study and gauged the status of the hydro metric and meteorological gauging stations.

This team could build a HPP in the middle of a desert


KCSA Strategic Communications

Our IR Rep

Phil Carlson, VP at KCSA Strategic Communications

http://www.linkedin.com/in/philipecarlson

"I have developed proactive investor relations and communication strategies for several multi-national micro and small cap companies in diversified industries such as Alternative Energy, Healthcare, Oil and Gas and Technology.

I am a Wall Street and Investor Relations veteran having worked at such firms as JPMorganChase and Merrill Lynch. My experience includes IPOs and reverse mergers, implementing retail and institutional road shows, and providing strategic counsel to clients. I have also worked with several international companies providing their management team's with guidance as these companies became listed on U.S exchanges."

The Company engaged KCSA (www.kcsa.com), a New York-based fully-integrated communications firm to provide investor relations counsel and assists with formulating 3Power’s strategic messaging. KCSA will work to increase awareness of 3Power and the convey value that exists in the Company to the investment community. KCSA will also help maintain relationships with existing investors as well as make introductions to potential new institutional and retail investors.

That last part is the best. You'd be a stupid donkey to think our management, and the rest of the team they have assembled have put all this money and work into this project so far... and nothing is going to come of it.

Also, if anyone wants the KMZs for Google earth so they can look for themselves, just shoot me a PM

One Last awesome pic looking down on the Shala and Breg Lumi