Is hydropower exploitation of the Nu river in China 'a must'?

Is hydropower exploitation of the Nu river in China 'a must'?
February 10, 2011
By Meng Si
Guardian.co.uk
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2011/feb/10/hydropower-exploitation-china

The government is ramping up hydropower ambitions, despite long-standing
controversy over impact on ecology and displaced people dam on the
Salween or Nu River (Nujiang) southwest China's Yunnan Workers fix a
floating platform which would be used for the construction of a dam on
the Nu river, south-west China.

After seven years of silence, an official from China's National
Development and Reform Committee (NDRC) has made public his views on
hydropower exploitation on the Nu river, China's last great waterway
without large-scale dams – announcing that development is "a must".

Feeling the pressure from energy-efficiency and carbon
emissions-reduction targets in China's 12th Five Year Plan, due to be
published next month, the government and state-owned electricity
enterprises are ramping up their hydropower ambitions. Bets are rising
on a "great leap" in hydropower exploitation.

On 28 January, Shi Lishan, deputy head of the New Energy and Renewal
Energy Division of China's national energy administration, set out his
views on the Nu river, also known as Salween:

"My belief is that development is a must. Because the Nu's upper and
lower reaches are already built up, in the past some people have said
that it is necessary to leave a stretch of free-flowing river. I believe
that putting that theory into practice is not realistic. We expect that,
on the basis of strong evidence, and after seeking the opinions of all
parties, that we can press ahead with hydropower construction on the Nu
river."

A journalist who has long reported on hydropower issues in China is Liu
Jianqiang, chinadialogue's Beijing editor. He believes that hydropower
development has caused so much controversy in the past in China because
of the negative impact on ecology and displaced people, but now hydro
interest groups are using the need for energy and emissions cuts as an
excuse to promote a new round of frenzied hydropower development.

In 2004, under pressure from environmental groups and the media, the
prime minister, Wen Jiabao, wrote in the State Reform and Development
Commission report on the Nu river hydropower development project that
"given the high level of social and environmental concerns over the
large scale hydro project, further careful research is required in order
to reach a scientific decision".

In the years following this event, the hydropower developers on the Nu
kept a low profile, avoiding anything that would draw public attention.
But the sentiments from authorities in recent weeks have led Chinese
NGOs to believe this time, the problem is serious.

The Nu is one of south-west China's great rivers, starting high up on
the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau and flowing down to the Indian Ocean. Its
water resources are rich.

According to the first plan for dam construction on the Nu, a string of
13 hydropower stations would produce annual output of 102.96bn kWh. When
completed, the value of the electricity generated could reach 36bn yuan.
Every year, it would generate 8bn yuan in tax revenue for the government
and local government coffers would also grow by 2.7bn yuan.

"It's true that hydropower exploitation can bring economic development,
but not necessarily to the benefit of local people," says Ma Jun,
director of Chinese NGO the Institute of Public and Environmental
Affairs (IPE). He believes that today's insufficiently transparent
policymaking mechanisms are maximising the interests of hydropower
industry, officials and a small number of experts, while driving
ecological destruction, affecting local livelihoods and increasing the
risk of geological disasters.

Back in 2003 and 2004, proposals to build a string of dams on the Nu
river provoked a fierce debate. A journalist from China Economic Times
reported seeing a report on a meeting to assess hydropower projects on
the middle and lower Nu, which said: "Hydropower development on Nu river
is unstoppable. Preparatory work of next stage will be carried out as
soon as the state approves."

Today's "hydropower is a must" has something of the flavour of that
report's "unstoppable". But, back then, central government ultimately
backed the voice of the people. Today's government is more worried about
how "clean" hydropower energy can help the government fulfil its
low-carbon promises.

The Chinese government has committed, by 2020, to getting 15% of its
power from renewable sources. By 2020, it is also bound to reduce the
carbon-intensity – emissions per unit of GDP – of its emissions by
40-45%, based on 2005 levels. However, to hit the energy-saving and
emissions-cutting targets in the 11th Five Year Plan period, electricity
supplies were cut off in some places. And, in the first half of 2010,
energy consumption per unit of GDP jumped, showing just how difficult it
will be for China to achieve the energy targets.

It is not only the future of the Nu river that is at stake. In January
2011, in order to boost hydropower construction, a proposal was
submitted to shrink a reserve for rare fish on the upper reaches of the
Yangtze river, threatening the existence of many species. At the end of
2010, China's oldest environmental NGO, Friends of Nature, requested a
public meeting about the Yangtze with the environmental authorities, but
their request was denied.

The Ludila, Jinanqiao, Long Kaikou and other hydropower projects were
stalled by obstruction from environmental groups and the pressure of
public opinion. But now, one by one, the embargo on these projects has
been lifted.

Ma Jun says: "Environmental groups are not completely against dams. We
approve of appropriate development. But China's present speed of
development is excessive." He says that, by 2004, China had overtaken
the US to become the country with the world's largest hydropower
capacity. At that time, the target was to reach a capacity of 300GW,
equivalent of tripling capacity within 16 years. After another 15 years,
China's hydropower resources will reach their limit. "Now there is no
way to undo the destruction and this will become a historic regret," he
says.

Ma Jun says that if hydropower exploitation on Nu River gets going
again, it will very likely trigger a new wave of high energy-consuming
industrial development in south-west China, due to local government
plans to use the newly generated electricity to exploit the area's rich
mineral resource. This is difficult to square with the national goal of
low-carbon development.

The National People's Congress (NPC) and Chinese People's Political
Consultative Conference (CPPCC) – two top government bodies – will meet
in March. And the elements of the 12th Five Year Plan concerning energy
efficiency, emissions reduction and hydropower exploitation will be at
the heart of their discussions. At the same time, Friends of Nature has
been calling on local green groups to write open letters to NPC and
CPPCC representatives, urging them to reconsider plans to shrink the
national-level nature reserves on the upper Yangtze river.

(Meng Si is managing editor of chinadialogue's Beijing office) ________________________________________________ You received this message as a subscriber on the list: china@list.internationalrivers.org To be removed from the list, please visit: http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2486/unsubscribe.jsp