This year’s government work report proposes to make room for the development of clean energy. Although small hydropower is internationally recognized as clean energy, its development is restricted or even stopped in some places. There are more than 47,000 small hydropower stations in China. What will happen in the future?
"It is easy to build a river dam, will it have an impact on the ecology? The water was intercepted by the upstream, and what about the downstream water? " The social doubts about small hydropower mainly focus on three aspects: first, it will reduce the dehydration of river sections; second, the dam construction of small hydropower will cut off rivers; third, it will compete with the people for water.
The power stations built in the early days were limited by the conditions at that time, and some of them were unscientific in planning and design. In addition, they were once developed out of order, which really brought about the influence of river reduction and dehydration, and some river basins had problems such as river cut-off and water pollution and eutrophication.
Will these problems become the "fatal wound" of small hydropower? Should small hydropower be developed or restricted? Spicy Finance went to Fujian and Zhejiang, major hydropower provinces, and conducted an investigation and interview.
Small hydropower has great emission reduction benefits and high energy return rate.
Yongchun County, Fujian Province, is the birthplace of small hydropower in China. There are 220 hydropower stations in 750 kilometers of rivers. The small hydropower here has made farmers’ production and life inseparable.
There are 236 administrative villages in Yongchun County, and 122 villages have hydropower stations. More than 70% of the power stations are collectively managed by villages, with an average annual hydropower income of 200,000 yuan. Xianyan Hydropower Station undertakes the public welfare services of surrounding villages, and 10 villages enjoy preferential electricity prices, with 3 cents cheaper per kilowatt hour, which is nearly 700,000 yuan a year.
"Small hydropower itself does not draw water, which is a green project." Zheng Shuangwei, director of the county water conservancy bureau, said that the development of small hydropower will destroy the ecology, which is biased. After all, there are a few small hydropower problems. In fact, the negative impact of small hydropower can be minimized through technical means and management measures.
In the dry season of Qingyuan Power Station on the main stream of Taoxi River, the 7-kilometer-long reach is easy to dry up from the water intake to the water outlet of the power station. This is also a controversial dewatering section.
How to solve the problem of water reduction in river reach? In 2015, the power station was rebuilt, and 48 new drainage holes were added, from which gurgling water flowed into the river. "The measures are quite simple. With the drainage holes, the dry season will give priority to ecological protection. With a flow rate of 1 cubic meter per second, the river section will not be dehydrated." Lin Jingsheng, head of the power station, said.
During the "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan" period, Fujian will ecologically transform 500 small hydropower stations. By 2030, all power stations that cause serious dehydration will implement ecological flow.
Then, will the small hydropower dam cut off the river? Will it compete with the people for water?
Zhejiang encourages the ecological transformation of small hydropower stations, installing ecological units, adding water outlets and building dams. The province subsidizes 35%, and the city and county subsidize some more. Fenghuang Hydropower Station in Anji County has transformed into "small hydropower+water supply". There is a power plant under the dam and a water plant on the dam, and an ecological small unit is added. Last year, the water supply alone reached 10 million cubic meters. With the ecological flow, the downstream delivery port will be smooth and clear all the year round.
Small hydropower can not only generate electricity, but also has obvious comprehensive benefits such as flood control, irrigation and water supply. There are four reservoirs behind the 480 kW White Hydropower Station in Yongqiang District, Wenzhou City, Zhejiang Province. The flood was put into the reservoir area and the fertile land was irrigated.
"Small hydropower itself is no problem. Through scientific planning and strict supervision, some negative effects can be minimized." Cheng Xialei, director of the International Small Hydropower Center, said that not only small hydropower, but also any human activity has an impact on the ecological environment, and wind power and photovoltaics are no exception. The key is how to weigh the pros and cons and how to transform.
According to the data of international research institutions, from the perspective of energy return rate, hydropower is 170— 280, while wind power is 18— 34, solar energy is 3— 6. Traditional thermal power is 2.5— 5.1。 According to the research of china environmental science Research Institute, the benefit of reducing PM2.5 emission by small hydropower is more than 1.5 times that of wind power and solar power generation. In other words, small hydropower generates a lot of electricity, but the energy required for its own construction and maintenance is very small.
Accurate poverty alleviation, small hydropower shoulders the heavy responsibility
At present, the development rate of small hydropower in China is 59.2%, which is lower than the level of about 80% in developed countries. In Switzerland and France, the development rate of small hydropower is as high as 97%.
Most of the undeveloped hydropower resources in China are concentrated in 832 poverty-stricken counties. To win the battle against poverty, we must not only let the poor people get rid of it, but also let them have a stable income and a way to get rich. But at present, the biggest difficulty in industrial assistance is that there are too few good projects. Small hydropower projects, however, have little investment risk and market impact, and can bring long-term stable income. Local development and nearby power supply will help the poor realize the function of "hematopoiesis".
In 2016, the state allocated 300 million yuan from the central budget to carry out pilot projects of rural small hydropower poverty alleviation in six provinces and cities including Hunan, Shaanxi and Chongqing. According to the national regulations, after the completion of the poverty alleviation hydropower station, the poverty alleviation income funds will be paid to the county government where the project is located at a rate of not less than 6% of the central investment every year, which will be specially used to support the construction of local poor households and infrastructure.
The pilot project of rural small hydropower poverty alleviation in Shaanxi Province will be fully completed before the end of June, and the poor people will share the fruits of hydropower resources development. The four pilot projects in the province will provide no less than 3.4 million yuan of poverty alleviation income funds every year for poverty alleviation and improvement of local infrastructure.
Dongkou County and Xinhua County, Hunan Province, are located in the contiguous poverty-stricken areas of Wuling Mountain. Last year, the central government invested 10 million yuan and 29.8 million yuan respectively to build two poverty-relief power stations. Each year, the two power stations will allocate more than 2.4 million yuan as income funds for poverty alleviation, 80% of which will directly increase the income of poor households who have set up files, and 20% will be used for infrastructure construction in poor villages.
"Small hydropower has remarkable benefits in poverty alleviation, and I hope to increase policy support." Cheng Xialei suggested that the ecological electricity price mechanism is feasible, and an ecological compensation mechanism should be established as soon as possible in accordance with the principle of "whoever develops and protects, whoever benefits and compensates".
"It is worth noting that behind the restrictions on small hydropower, the installed capacity of coal-fired power is still expanding. In some places, water, wind and light are seriously abandoned. Only Sichuan and Yunnan provinces abandoned 80 billion kWh of water last year." Wang Yinan, a researcher at the Institute of Resources and Environmental Policy of the State Council Development Research Center, said that although the Renewable Energy Law clearly stipulates that hydropower is renewable energy, hydropower has not been able to enjoy the incentive policies for renewable energy such as wind power and solar energy for more than 10 years, and hydropower has been excluded from the full-guaranteed acquisition policy, which has hindered its consumption. At the national level, top-level design should be accelerated, local barriers should be broken, and hydropower should be included in the scope of full-guaranteed acquisition of renewable energy as soon as possible. (People’s Daily Central Kitchen Spicy Finance Studio Zhao Yongping)
