Gansu tightens control of hydropower projects on environmental concerns

Gansu tightens control of hydropower projects on environmental concerns
China Business Newswire
December 6, 2011

http://www.hydroworld.com/index/display/news_display.1556615756.html

West China's Gansu Province, one of the country's driest regions, has
introduced policies aimed at better regulating small-scale hydropower
projects to protect fresh water resources, according to a policy
statement issued by the Gansu provincial government Dec. 5.

According to the statement, effective Dec. 1 all planned hydropower
plants with installed capacity ranging from five to 250 megawatts (MW)
must receive approval from the Gansu arm of the National Development and
Reform Commission (NDRC) before breaking ground.

Additionally, projects with les than five MW of installed capacity need
to obtain approval from municipal NDRC offices, the policy said,
stressing that hydropower operating licenses were not transferrable.

The latest regulations are aimed at protecting scarce water resources
and farmers from potentially harmful hydropower project development, the
Gansu provincial government said.

Calls to the Gansu NDRC for further comment went unanswered.

Tian Zhongxing, director of hydropower development with the Ministry of
Water Resources (MWR), told the China Small Hydropower Projects Forum in
Beijing Oct. 12 that a number of small-scale hydropower projects have
damaged the environment and affected downstream irrigation systems,
noting that the MWR has sent representatives to Gansu this year to
investigate a number of such incidents.

Gansu has 1,077 cubic meters of fresh water per person, roughly half of
the national average, according to the Gansu arm of the MWR.

By the end of 2010 Gansu housed 1.68 gigawatts (GW) of hydropower
installed capacity, according to provincial MWR statistics.

-WV
Copyright 2011 Interfax News AgencyAll Rights Reserved
China Business Newswire
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