Achievements and Prospects of China s Hydropower Generation

Outstanding achievementsThe s c a le of h ydro po we r d e ve lop me n t c o n-tin uous ly expa nd ing to a ne w leve lAs a type of clean and renewable energy resource,water power takes an extremely important position in the energy layout of the world.The theoretic reservation of China ’s hydro energy is ranked the rst in the world.But from the foundation of P.R.C.to the year of 1978(the year when the reform and opening-up took place),the hydro energy exploitation in the whole country was less than 10%of the reservation.Before the implementation of the reform and opening-up policy,due to various historic reasons and the poor productive forces during the initial stage from the foundation of new China,the hydropower construction proceeded relatively slowly in our country.After the implementation of reform and opening-up policy,the hydropower construction has been substantially accelerated in our country.The yearly average capacity of the generating units that are put into operation has been increasing gradually.Especially after 1993,the yearly capacity of the generating units that are put into operation always exceeds 3000MW.In September 2004,the total installed capacity of the hydropower units in our country exceeded 100GW and China possessed the largest capacity of the installed hydropower generating units in the world.By the end of 2007,the total installed capacity of hydropower units in our country had reached 145GW,which de nitely was the top one in the world.It took only y z capacity were doubled,compared with that in the 50years from the foundation of new China.The utilization ratio of the exploited hydro energy was improved from less than 10%before the implementation of the reform and opening-up policy to 27%at present.The rapid development of hydropower contributed considerably to the national economy growth and the development of the society.J oin ing th e world le a din g gr ou p in te rms o f hydrop owe r da m te c hnolo giesAfter the implementation of the reform and opening-up policy,technical breakthrough has taken place in every aspect of hydropower dam technologies through the national-level major projects.200m-level ultr a-high roller compa cted concrete (RCC)gra vity da m technology.At present,66high RCC gravity dams have been built in our country,and 35dams of the same type are under construction.Among them,the largest dam at Longtan Hydropower Station is 216.5m high,which is so far the largest and highest RCC gravity dam in the world.200m-level ultr a-high concr ete face r ockfill da m technology.At present,160concrete surface rockfill dams with 30m or above height have been built,and more than 40of them are 200m or higher.Among them,the dam of Shuibuya Hydropower Station is up to 233m high,which is so far the highest concrete surface rock ll ●By Zhou DabingChinese Society for Hydropower EngineeringAchie veme nts and Prospe cts of China ’s HydropowerGe ne ration8ears to reali e the miracle in which the total installeddam in the world.leading group of the world in the dam construction,in the aspects of the quantity,scale,technical challenge,technical innovation and so on.The d o me s tic a tio n le ve l o f la rg e -s ize d a n d e x tr a -la r g e -s iz e d u n its h a s b e e n im p r o ve d su bs ta ntia llyIn the latest 30years,substantial improvements have been achieved in hydropower electromechanical equipment in our country.After a batch of 300-MW units putting into operation in Liujiaxia,Longyangxia,Yantan,Guangzhou pumped storage stations and others,the 400-MW units in Lijiaxia Hydropower Station,the 550-MW units in Erta n Hydropow er Sta tion,and especially more than 30700-MW units in the Three Gorges and Longtan Hydropower Stations were all successfully put into operation in succession.For Xiluodu,Xiangjiaba,Laxiwa,Baihetan,Wudongde Hydropower Stations and others that are being constructed,the single unit capacity of the generating unit has been increased towards 700MW,800MWan d even 1000MW.Among the 26units on the two banks of the Three Gorges project,8units are fully domestically-made with self-owned intellectual properties.It is through the three steps of “technology assignment,digestion and absorption,independe nt innovation ”that a large stride was made for the extra-large hydropower electromechanical equipment manufacturing industry of our country in such short 7years.It indicates the arrival of epoch in which very large water wheel units can be designed,ma nufactured and installed independently in China.At present,32units with capacity of 500MW or above have been constructed and 109more are being constructed.Both of these two gures assume the leading spots in the world hydro plant construction.The progress of the domestication of pumped storage units has been speeded up continuously.The construction of pumped storage stations began at the end of 1960s,and staged into a large scale at the end of 1980s thanks to the implementation of the reform and opening-up policy.By the end of 2007,17pumped storage stations were constructed,with the total installed capacity of 8945MW,and 11stations were being constructed,with the total installed capacity of 12160MW.Guangzhou Pumped Storage Station I and II that have been constructed and put into operation totally have an installed capacity o f 2400MW and 535m head,being the largest pumped storage station in the world.Xilongchi Pumped Storage Station being constructed has a total installed capacity of 1200MW and 640m rated head.Huizhou Pumped Storage Station has a total installed capacity of 2400MW and 517.4m T f 300m-level ultr a-high a rch da m and 100m-level ultra high RCC ar ch dam technologies.Our country now has the edge-leading design theories and construction technologies in the world.For example,the arch dam construction in Ertan (dam height is 240m),Xiaowan (dam height is 292m),Jinping I (dam height is 305m)Hydropower Stations and others has applied the high arch dam construction technologies in our country that reaches the peak of the world ’s dam engineering.Da m foundation technologies.At present,China has mastered the technology of cutoff foundation wall processing up to a depth of 150m in complex and special geological conditions.The greatest depth of grouting hole made in foundation grouting processing has reached up to 206m.The technology of digging and reinforcing in high side slope has reached the 700m-level.Innovation in the technology of energy dissipa ter in high speed flow.After continuous accumulation of experiences and independent innovation,the characteristic achievements of innovation have been realized in the systematic researches in the form and structure of the energy dissipater,which is laid out and implemented at hydrotechnical building complexes in our country to guarantee the operation security of hydropower projects.M icr o-exp ansion ma gnesia concr ete d am ming tech nology.This is an original technology of our country with self-owned intellectual properties,which is acclaimed as an important innovation and breakthrough in the international damming technologies.It is due to these high level dam technologies that the hydropower generation of our country has been promoted up to a peak of achievements,and China has joinedtherated head.he construction o pumped storage stations inChina thereupon has entered an era of large capacity,high head and high lift.Th e c ons tru ctio n of larg e hydro powe r s ta tio nsc ontinuo us ly prom oting the larg e c ap a city,longd ista nce a n d h igh volta ge po we r tra ns m is s ion te c hn ologie s to a n ew le velSince the foundation of new China,to mee t the requirements for large capacity and long distance power delivery resulting from the constant development of the national economy,the operating voltage level of power grid has been continuously raised.In the last30years, the construction of high dams,large reservoirs and large power stations has spurred the full development of large power grid at high voltage level,and promoted the power grid technology of our country to a leading level in the world.Currently,to implement the grand western development program and power transmission from west to east and to meet the requirements for hydropower exploitation and transmission in the western regions,the construction of a demonstrative1000-kV AC project and a±800-kV DC power transmission project have been initiated,which forms backbones of the national grid across all the large regional grids to realize power transmission across large regions and river basins,mutual adjustment of hydropower and thermal power,a nd optimize allocation of energy resources throughout the whole country.Hy dr o p o we r de ve lo p me n t b rin g in g a b o u t g re a t c om pre h e n s ive be n e fits fo r the n a tio n a l e co nom y a nd s oc ia l d eve lopme n tBen efits in power gener ation and envir onment pr otec tion.At the end of2007,the tota l installed capacity of hydropower units was up to145GW,and the annual electricity generation was486.7TWh,which was equivalent to the thermal power generated by243million tons of raw coal with CO2emission reduced by487 million tons.Benefits in flood contr ol.Taking the Three Gorges project as an example,the huge Three Gorges reservoir can control the flood from the upstream of the Yangzi River,and enhance control capability on the Jingjiang middle reach from ten-year ood to hundred-year ood, which reduces greatly the threat of ood disasters to the people’s lives and properties and protects the15million people in Jianghan Plain and Dongting Lake region during the ood season.Benefits in tra nspor ta tion.After the water storing T G,region have been improved greatly.The volume of transportation along the Three Gorges was increased sharply from the historic peak of18million tons to more than60million tons in2007.The formation of the main waterborne transportation artery introduces the advent of the golden time of water transport.Bene ts in resettlement.As a sample in resettlement for hydropow er,Wujiang Exploita tion Company assisted the station design departments and the local governments in making the migrant arrangement plan and the compensation and investment estimate,aroused as muc h as possible the active pariticipation of the local governments and the migrants,ensuring the full realization of the goals for the migrant arrangement.By the end of2006,for Hongjiadu,Suofengying,Goupitan, Silin,Dahuahui Hydropower Stations constructed by the Wujiang Company,68785migrants were settled down, the resettlement fund of2.438billion Yuan were paid,and the migrant resettlement has been performed smoothly, ensuring the normal construction of the power stations as scheduled.Red uc tion of se dimen ta tion in ch a nne ls a nd impr ovement of water quality.Due to the substantial adjustment and storage function of the Three Gorges rese rvoir for example,the se dime nt content in the discharged flow is reduced substantially.The sc our distance of the sediment downstream of the dam is prolonged,and the scour amount is increased,thereby reducing the sedimentation and improving the water quality to a great extent.Guar antee of the secure and economic opera tion of power gr ids.Hydropow er features quick start, peak regulation and frequency regulation,economic operation,standby for emergency,black start(pumped storage station)and so on,which plays an important role in optimizing power source structure,guaranteeing power supply quality,promoting resources reservation, implementing green environment protection,ensuring power system security,improving cost-effectiveness in power system operation,and so on.Pr omotion of the constr uction of socialistic new r ura l a r ea.At present,the installed capacity of small hydropower sta tions has reached about55GW.By developing small rural hydropower resources vigorously and replac ing firewood with electric ity,ec ologic environment in the vast rural area can be improved and the goal of using electricity in every village may beI,fin the hree orges the transportation in the reservoir achieved soon.n addition with more coverage o powernetworks,the cost of production and living in the rural area can be lessened and the incomes may be improved so as to speed up the step of the construction of socialistic new rural area.Successful experiences in the hydro-power generation in ChinaFollo wing the d ire c tion of the na tion a l en erg y s tra te gyAs a kind of clean and green renewable ene rgy resource,water power plays a more important role in the power energy resources.After the implementation of the reform and opening-up policy,the country has continuously enforced the adjustment of power source structure and always paid enormous attention to the hydropower development.During the8years from2000 to2007,the GDP of our country increased from9900 billion Yuan to24950billion Yuan,and the installed capacity of power units in the whole country rose from 319GW to713GW,in which the capacity of hydropower units rose from79.35GW to145GW.The development of power industry is keeping up with that of the economy and then provides crucial support to the development of the national economy.Deve loping in a dive rse mod eUnder the general guide line of the reform and opening-up policy and the direction of the idea of market-oriented economy reform,the hydropower system reform of our country was initiated at the end of1970s.In general,there were four stages till now.In the rst stage,the hydropower design and construction management system were altered from management by the local governments during the “R”y central authorities.After the reorganization of hydropower enterprises,it was clarified that hydropower projects be contracted by construction enterprises.In the second stage,Lubuge Hydropower Station of Yunnan Province introduced the loan from the World Bank and performed international tendering and bidding,which led to the “Lubuge shock”and thus resulted in the implementation of the competing system for the hydropower construction market.Afterwards,the large-sized hydropower projects in the whole country implemented the marketization reform and then the construction of river basin companies at the relevant rivers came into an important stage.The third stage was a deepening period of the hydropower institutional reform and an adjustment period of the hydropower development.On the one hand,the Three Gorges project was fully initiated and the construction of the large projects such as Ertan,Xiaolangdi and so on was initiated,which promoted the reform with respect to large rivers and large projects and enhanced the management capability.On the other hand,because the country adopted the policy of adjustment and controlling due to the overheat of investment in fixed assets,some hydr opowe r projects fell into a djustment and the hydropower development came into an adjustment period. In the fourth stage,as the power institutional reform was initiated and advanced with growing energy demand by the development of the national economy,the hydropower institutional reform and development entered a new stage in which chances and challenges coexist together.After more than30years’development,the hydro-power generation in China has changed from construction under the sole financial support by government before the implementation of the reform and opening-up policy,fCultural evolution period to management b the to construction through multiple-channel undraisingafterw ards,and the hydropow er development has changed from a unitary to a diverse mode,therefore,the hydropower development is becoming more exible and ordered and the progress of hydropower development in our country is further accelerated.Pr om o tin g th e s u s ta in a ble hyd ro po we r e x-ploitationEnergy security is one of the bases of the national security.The reserves and evaluation of energy resources will impact the plan and general goal of the national economy and the social development.China made3 gene ral investigations on hydroenergy resources in the20th century.The first two were made in1940s and 1950s,respectively,in which the depth and width were very limited and the results were not very accurate and reliable.The third one was a large-scale country-wide general investigation on hydroenergy resources carried out between1979and1980,as a result of which the status of the hydroenergy resources in China was basically clear.However,with the development of the country and the establishment of the market economy system, some economic,social and production conditions of hydropower construction were changed.To better exploit and utilize the hydroenergy resources in China,from 2000to2003,the country organized more than1000 engineers and technicians to carry out a new investigation and evaluation on the3886rivers in the mainland of our country where each of them has an installed capacity of 10MW or more.It took more than3years to accomplish the fourth general investigation.The results revealed that the theoretical reserves of hydro energy in the mainland were694.4GW,the technically exploitable reserves were 541.6GW,and the economically exploitable reserves were401.79GW,all of which were at the top spot in the world.After30years’reform and opening-up,by scientific pla nning a nd lay in g o ut,ela bor a te de sig n a nd construction,and by strict requirement for quality and management,the policy of preferential development on large rivers,13large hydropower bases have been established.Through optimizing resources allocation,the proper exploitation and utilization of the hydro resources in China has been promoted in an orderly way and the sustainable development of hydropower industry has been further advanced.Pr o mo tin g th e o rd e r ly d e ve lop m e n t of th e la rge rive r b a sinsIn1980s,considering the facts that the hydro resourcesy,y the needs to maximize economic and social benefits by river basins dispatching,the country proposed the guide line of“river basin,cascade,rolling”for the hydropower exploitation,and established a number of river basin exploitation companies one after another combined with the national hydropower development plan and the establishment of the13large hydropower bases.Some of the companies have gradually become diversified with investments from multiple entities.The river basin exploitation companies follow the principle of marketization and implement integrated management on exploitation and operation,which facilitates the rolling and enlargement of investment.Some of the river basin exploitation companies make an agreement with the power grid corporations to implement unified dispatch of the water situation and power at the cascades of river basins,striving for the optimized allocation and thus the most proper utilization of the hydro energy.Local companies on the behalf of the local governments are involved in the most of the river basin companies,which facilitates the coordination of migrant arrangement, environment protection and local economy development during the exploitation,and will further promotes the harmonious unification of hydropower exploitation with the local economy and social development.The13large hydropower bases have over one half of the resources,and more than60%of the installed capacity of the hydropower units in the whole country.It can be seen,the establishment of the river basin exploitation companies promotes the development and construction of hydropower bases.Pa yin g a m ple a tte ntion to re s e ttle me n t a n d en viro nme nt p rote c tionThe moving and arrangement of migrants is a very diff icult job in the hydr opow er deve lopment and construction.In the recent30years,the resettlement in the hydropower development has been improved through uninterrupted trials and the measures for the resettlement have also been adjusted correspondingly.The guide line for the resettlement has been changed from arrangement-based in the past to development-based,i.e.,to not only compensate the migrants nancially,but more importantly, guarantee the long-term production and living for the migrants through the subsequent supporting policies, thereby realizing the goals of the resettlement,“being movable,stable and able to become rich gradually.”The hydropower exploitation should be implemented following not only the natural rules but also in a scienti cy Tare distributed mainl in a river basin and especiall and reasonable wa.he development activities andnature protection activities of human must be performed in a complementary way,thus the harmoniousness between human and nature can be realized.Otherwise,if the hydro energy is exploited improperly or the flow of river is changed without any proof,new natural disasters may occur.In the30years’reform and opening-up,the hydropower engineers have paid further attention to the concept of environment protection,no matter whether during the stage of planning and designing,the process of construction,or in the process of the site cleaning-up and the vegetation restoration after the completion of construction and the withdrawal from the site.Spe eding up the progres s of the dome stic ation of hydropo we r u nitsIn the progress of the domestication of hydropower units in our country,a guide line of introducing advanced equipment and core technologies has been adopted in parallel.By taking full advantage of promotion to the innovation from the national ma jor projects in the hydropower science and technology and the main technical equipment,we’ve led a succ essful way of equipment domestication via introduction,digestion, absorption and re-innovation.After the implementation of the reform and opening-up policy,under the circumstances of the developme nt of large hydropower bases,the construction of numerous large hydropower stations and the great market demand for hydropower equipment,our country has learned gradually how to attract the rst-level manufacturers in the world with the great market demand. At the same time of purchasing advanced equipment,our country introduces critical technologies for digestion, absorption and re-innovation.Therefore,the technical le ve ls of the de sign,manufacture,installation a nd operation of hydropower equipment have been improved greatly.In cre a s ing th e m ode rn iza tio n le ve l o f hyd ro-po wer c on struc tion e qu ipme ntDuring the30years’reform and opening-up,the local large hydropower units of our country have become the top level in the world.Our country has joined the leading group in the world in terms of various dam construction technologies,and the modernization level of hydropower construction equipment has been increased in a constant way.The vertical ship lifts designed and manufactured independently in the Three Gorges project are of all the greatest in the world in the aspects of lifting tonnage,the lifting height and the technical difficulties.The Three Gorges double-line and five-stage navigation lock has the biggest head and the most continuous as well as the world.It is due to the direction of the strategic goals of“constructing an innovative country”proposed by the government,great strides have been made in the hydropower equipment manufacturing technologies and the modernization level of construction equipment by relying upon the national major projects,which have been ranked in the world.As a result,the great improvements in the level of design,execution,manufacturing,installation, operation,management and so on of the hydropower construction have been achieved.The duration of the hydropower station construction has been reduced greatly, for example,the duration of constructing a1000MW-level hydropower station has been reduced from7years in the past to4-5years at present,resulting in signi cant decline in the cost of project construction,an increase in the economic bene ts and an enhancement of the market competitiveness.The quality of hydropower construction has been improved apparently.In the“5.12”Wenchuan Earthquake in2008,many urban buildings collapsed, but none of the hydropower stations in the earthquake regions encountered any major damages or dam collapse or secondary disaster.The high and thin RCC arch dam of Shapai Hydropower Station located at the epicenter kept a whole skin.The electricity generation of Zipingpu Hydropower Station was restored in only5days after the earthquake.These indicated that the quality of the dam construction for China’s hydropower stations had stood the most rigid trial.De ve lo ping s ma ll h yd ropo wer s ta tio nsThe implementation of the reform and opening-up policy has promoted the rural electri cation construction. Before the implementation,the total installed capacity of the small hydropower stations was less than7000MW, while at present,mor e tha n45thousand of small hydropower stations have been constructed,with the total capacity of55GW,which accounted for38%of the hydropower installed capacity in the whole country. Because of the large quantity and wide distribution of the small hydropower stations in our country,their basic function of power supply is much more than its5% proportion of the electricity generation in the whole country.Currently,about one half of the territory,one third of the counties,and one fourth of the population in China are powered by the small hydropower stations.A route of rural electrification has been found with Chinese characteristics for the construction of the small hydropower stations in our country,which has become a veritable kingdom of small hydropower stations.(T ranslated by W ang Ying andy L W y)highest miter gate and the heaviest single gate in the edited b iu en ing。