O Mon Power Plant climate change assessment

Climate change has the potential to exacerbate the risk associated with large infrastructure projects within their life-span. Can Tho and the Mekong Delta have been identified as one of the most vulnerable regions in the world. Predicted changes to the deltaic climate could increase both the magnitude and frequency of occurrence of floods, storms and induce greater seasonal variability in weather patterns which will increase the risk and potentially reduce the design life of large infrastructure works such as the O Mon power station.

The overall objective of the O Mon Rapid climate change threat and vulnerability study is: “To undertake an initial and rapid assessment of the potential threats posed by climate change to O Mon IV power plant and assess the vulnerability of plant design, infrastructure and operations to these threats” .

The overall objective will be achieved by fulfilling the following specific study objectives:

1. Review and collect data from existing modelling work which has downscaled general circulation model (GCM) to project Can Tho's climate in 2025 and 2050 under A2 and B2 development scenarios
2. Integrate results into a hydrodynamic model to predict sea level, storm surge, and river temperature at the O Mon IV site, adjacent to Hau River in Can Tho
3. Assess O Mon IV vulnerability in 2025 and 2050 taking into account current design requirements for the project's height above sea level, Hau river dyke height, and cooling water temperature specification.

The output of the study will be a short report covering:

(i) Projected climate and hydrological threats for two time-slices: 2025 and 2050 (A2 and B2), including an assessment of the probability of occurrence for key impacts

(ii) Vulnerability of the O Mon IV project, focusing on vulnerability from flooding and increase in air/water temperature increases.

The final report is available for downloading from the ICEM publications page.

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