Small-type Hydropower Production Promises Huge Potential in ChinaSmall-type hydropower production promises huge potential in China for a technical development capacity of 0.1 billion kilowatts has already been found in over 1,500 mountainous counties in the country.This is as has been told by Vice Director of hydraulic power bureau of the Ministry of Water Resource Tian Shen at the international symposium of reusable energy resources held in Guilin. Tian said that there are over 4,300 small hydroelectric stations with an installed capacity of more than 23 million kilowatts having been built to provide nearly 72 billion kilowatt-hours for 1/2 of regions and 1/4 population in the country, with an assets value up to 300 billion yuan. But against this is merely an installed capacity taking 29% of small-type hydropower resources to be developed in China by the end of last year. The annual per capita power consumption in related counties which have achieved or are on the way to realize elementary electrification is at a level of 280 kilowatts-hours, showing a wide gap with developed countries in their power consumption. Among 80% of China's population living in the countryside, over 75 million still have got no access to power supply. The rural areas give an annual energy consumption of about 0.6 billion tons of standard coal. A large part of these relies on burning of carbonic plants, not to say a low efficiency in power generation, serious damage to local vegetation and ecological environment and various natural calamities to be brought about. Developing small-type hydropower utilities according to local conditions is an indispensable part of the implementation of sustainable development strategy. Of the present 40 thousand small hydropower stations in China, many have been operating for thirty to forty years running. Technological renovation and transformation are badly needed. China has worked out a series of effective policies for developing hydropower production. These involve tax and electric tariff policies to encourage local governments and local people to develop plentiful small hydropower resources in nearby mountainous areas. The financing modes for constructing small-type hydropower stations have tended to be diversified. The government encourages private and foreign investment and operations market oriented. For instance, private investment or funds collection by local peasants and villages earmarked for hydropower construction has been introduced in economically developed eastern regions such as Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong. Tian Shen says hydropower resources that can be developed in the middle and western regions of China account for 83% of China's, at a level lower than the national average, which means huge potential for developing small-type hydropower production in China. |
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