Expert says rush to build hydropower poses risks

By Li Jing

NANJING - The largest obstacle China must overcome as it looks to build hydropower projects in its seismically active southwestern regions is the need to use technology that will reduce the danger posed by earthquakes and other disasters, a senior water conservation official said on Monday.

"Major water projects currently under construction or in the pipeline in the country's southwestern regions are among the largest in the world. Their capability to resist floods, earthquakes and other natural disasters has become an issue of increasing public concern," Hu Siyi, vice-minister of water resources, told a conference on Yangtze River protection.

To be safe, hydropower projects should include technologies designed for use in areas characterized by high altitudes, frozen ground and high frequencies of earthquakes, as well as technologies needed to repair dams after they are hit by natural disasters.

China has placed a priority on expanding its reliance on hydropower, both to meet citizens' increasing demands for energy and to respond to international pressures to reduce its emissions of greenhouse gases.

According to the country's 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015), China is to have the ability to generate 310 gigawatts from hydropower by 2015. It has already made good progress toward that goal.

By the end of 2010, the country could produce 208 gW from hydropower, the largest amount that any country in the world can claim.

China's southwestern regions are ideal places for hydropower projects because they contain abundant amounts of water, much of it flowing through rivers. Officials believe those sources can be used to power the development of the country's western regions.

Seven hydropower projects are now under construction in Southwest China's Yunnan and Guizhou provinces. Taken together, they have a capacity of over 70 gW.

But geologists worry about current plans to build dams in that seismically active area, saying earthquakes and landslides not only pose dangers to the projects themselves but also threaten the livelihoods of nearby residents.