Hydroelectric power stations set for approval despite concerns of experts
South China Morning Post
Zhuang Pinghui in Beijing
October 28, 2015
When completed, the four new stations will produce twice as much power as the Three Gorges Dam (pictured). Photo: Xinhua
Two controversial hydroelectric power stations over the Jinsha River are to be approved and start construction this year, People’s Daily reported yesterday.
When completed, the 10.2GW Wudongde and 16GW Baihetan hydropower projects in Yunnan and Sichuan, together with the Xiangjiaba and Xiluodu hydroelectric power stations which began generating last year, will produce twice as much power as the Three Gorges Dam.
Xinhua said Sichuan and Yunnan had approved residents’ resettlement plans for the Wudongde and Baihetan plants, while the Ministry of Environmental Protection had approved the evaluation reports.
China Three Gorges Corporation is behind all four stations, and has been pushing for the approval of Wudongde and Baihetan since the others came online.
When finished, Baihetan will be the second largest – and Wudongde the fourth largest – power station in China.
A mudslide near the construction site of the Baihetan Dam in 2012 buried more than 40 people. Experts say the area is geophysically unstable. File Photo
A recent evaluation of the plan for the Wudongde station concluded it was fit for submission to the National Development and Reform Commission, and to the State Council for final approval.
It is on the council’s agenda to approve the station as one of the year’s biggest clean energy projects.
Feasibility studies on the Wudongde station launched in 2005, but research into the project stretches back to the 1960s.
“The permission means the Ministry of Environmental Protection, NDRC, local governments … and of course the State Council have reached a consensus,” said a source familiar with the approval process.
State media has touted the dams as a way to cut poverty in mountainous regions and address the country’s acute shortage of electrical power, but experts have voiced concerns.
Geologist Yang Yong said building a dam in earthquake-prone Wudongde was risky. “The area has a history of geological disasters and the hazards have been active in recent years,” Yang said.
Xu Zongxue, a professor with Beijing Normal University’s College of Water Sciences, said the dams would affect the ecology of the lower reaches of the Yangtze, of which the Jinsha is a tributary.
