Shaanxi Province in northwest China plans to kick start an ambitious hydropower development program with an investment of 8 billion yuan (964 million US dollars) along the Hanjiang River, the largest tributary of the Yangtze, China's longest river.

Five hydropower stations to be erected along the Hanjiang Riverare expected to bring the total annual power output along the river up to seven billion kwh, according to Cheng Andong, governor of Shaanxi Province.

There are currently two hydropower plants along the river, with a combined generating capacity of one million kw.

Hanjiang River originates in the area of Hanzhong City in central Shaanxi, and joins the Yangtze at Huhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province. The stored hydropower capacity along the 700-kilometer tributary in Shaanxi is projected at 4.7 million kw, with the usable capacity reaching 2.8 kw.

So far, Feasibility studies and preliminary designing for the four hydropower plants have been completed and are now in the process of being submitted to the relevant departments for approval. And a special development company has also been set up with an aim to implement the program through multiple financing.

The project is a viable one, according to Shan Lun, a noted water conservancy expert and an academician from the Chinese Academy of engineering, who cited two figures to back up his endorsement of the project: the program requires only 18,000 residents to be relocated and some 930 ha of arable land to be inundated.

A full exploitation of hydropower resources along the Hanjiang River will help solve energy imbalance problem in Shaanxi Province, which mainly use thermal energy, and clean energy is preferred to ease pressure on local environment, Shan Lun said.