China's hydropower will develop to large capacity

The relevant person in charge of the National Energy Administration revealed at the national hydropower promotion conference held on August 21 that as the undisputed leader of hydropower in the world, China’s hydropower development will develop toward super capacity in the future.

In the next 10 years, it is expected that the total number of ultra-large hydropower units with capacity of 700,000 kW or more put into operation will total more than 100 units. By that time, China's hydropower capacity will reach 350 million kilowatts.

According to the "First Financial Daily", as of now, China's hydropower installed capacity has taken the lead in the world to "smack" 200 million kilowatts, and exceeded 100 million kilowatts in 2004, only in the past six years. According to the goal of the Chinese government to achieve 15% of non-fossil energy, by 2020, China's hydropower capacity should reach 350 million kilowatts.

In fact, as one of the two main forces of China's power structure, the installed growth rate of hydropower has been higher than that of thermal power since last year. In hydropower development and hydropower station construction, there is a trend toward large capacity development. For example, the Xiluodu and Xiangjiaba hydropower stations under construction have a total of 36 units with 700,000 kilowatts or more.

However, although hydropower resources in China rank first in the world, the overall development scale only accounts for about 35% of the amount of technology exploitable. Compared with the average level of development and utilization of hydropower resources in developed countries of 60%-70%, there is a big gap. Among them, Nu River and Yarlung Zangbo River have not yet been developed. The overall development level of the Jinsha River, Yalong River, Dadu River and Lancang River is less than 10%, and the potential for large-scale hydropower development is huge.

In China, the development of hydropower is faced with many challenges such as environmental protection, immigration, regulations, and low electricity prices.

As hydropower development has changed the status of rivers, environmentalists have expressed their deep concern about possible adverse effects such as fish return and watershed environment after hydropower development. The immigration and relocation caused by hydropower are increasingly becoming the focus of public opinion.

Since China passed the “Renewable Energy Law” in 2005, it has not introduced the specific provisions for the application of hydropower to the law. The difficulties in connecting hydropower to the Internet and low electricity prices have become the reasons why some hydropower owners have to survive at the expense of the environment and local interests.

In order to adapt to the low-carbon demands brought about by global climate change, as the largest renewable energy form in China, the development of hydropower has been officially considered as a major strategy for optimizing the energy structure and achieving sustainable development.

Zhang Guobao, the National Energy Administration, issued a rare biased view on hydropower at the news conference of the New China Office. At that time, he expressed his view that some people exaggerated the development of hydropower to affect the environment. These people ignored the fact that the United States and other developed countries “had already done what we are doing as early as 670 years ago.”

Previously, some hydropower experts pointed out that the development of large-capacity hydropower stations will be conducive to the realization of local environmental and ecological protection, but the concentrated development of large-capacity hydropower plants will also bring large-scale hydropower transmission problems, so large-capacity hydropower development will be with large capacity. The construction of UHV EHV transmission lines matches.

Shi Lishan, deputy director of the New Energy and Renewable Energy Division of the National Energy Administration, said here that hydropower installed capacity has exceeded 200 million kilowatts, which has effectively promoted the adjustment of the energy supply structure. If China's hydropower smoothly achieves 350 million kilowatts by 2020, The energy supply structure in China will be considerably improved.