---In
Dec 2003, the launching ceremony of "Small Hydro Power
for Firewood" Ecological Protection Project was started
simultaneously in Sichuan, Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou and
Shanxi of China, signifying the formal initialization of
nationwide "Small Hydro Power for Firewood" Ecological
Protection Project.
Both No 2 Document in 2002 and No
3 Document in 2003 from the Central Committee of Communist
Party of China listed the rural hydro power covering thousand
rural households and enhancing the income of the farmers
as the important mid and small type infrastructure building,
requesting to expand the scale of construction, to enrich
the items of construction and to initiate the pilot projects
of the "Small Hydro Power for Firewood" Ecological
Protection Project. The No 16 Document of the State Council
set forth further requirements for implementing "Small
Hydro Power for Firewood" Ecological Protection Project
in the pilot areas. The Chinese Ministry of Water Resources
listed the "Small Hydro Power for Firewood" Ecological
Protection Project as one of the "three bright spots"
for hydro construction.
The third session of the 16th Central
Committee of CPC pointed out that the principle of people
oriented, comprehensive, coordinated and sustainable development
must be persisted so as to stimulate the overall development
of our economy, society and people. The rural hydro power
is an important mid and small public infrastructure in the
rural areas. The substantial exploitation of rural hydro
power and implementation of "Small Hydro Power for
Firewood" Ecological Protection Project will directly
benefit millions of rural households --- a wise decision
made by CPC and the State Council at strategic height to
protect the ecology, improve the living of the farmers and
enrich themselves in the long run.
The development of the rural hydro
power and implementation of "Small Hydro Power for
Firewood" Ecological Protection Project are multi-functional.
Salient social, economic and ecological benefits are to
be achieved. After the implementation, the problem of burning
hay by around 104 million farmers could be resolved, reducing
the consumption of burning hay 149 million cm, protecting
340 million mu (15 mu is equal to 1 ha) of forest, reducing
the annual emission of 200 million ton of carbon dioxide
and 920000 ton of sulfur dioxide. The implementation of
the project could unfetter the rural productive forces,
change the backward living and life status, alleviate the
hardship of chopping and burning the hay, improve the living
condition in the countryside and promote the coordinated
development between the rural regions and towns.
The rural hydro power potential
in China is abundant, with the exploitable around 130 mil
kW which is listed No 1 in the whole world. In the recent
years, the new installation of rural hydro power accounts
for 2 million kW annually. By the end of 2002, over 1500
counties (cities) developed the rural hydro power and constructed
48,000 SHP stations with the total installed capacity 33000
MW and annual power generation 108.4 billion kWh, representing
around 40% of the national total hydro power installed capacity
and output. Half of the land, one third of the counties
(cities) and one fourth of the population were mainly supplied
by the rural hydro power. China's rural hydro power provided
or provides supply to over 500 million rural population.
Such result is remarkable, as it plays a special role in
promoting the rural social and economic development. In
many of the counties where the rural hydro power was developed
to a full degree, the local economy was boomed and new look
emerged. The experiments of Small Hydro Power for Firewood"
Ecological Protection Project are going on in a number of
provinces. The scenic regions like wulong and Jiuzhaigou
in Sichuan province have become the zone of non-smokers
and Kangding recovered its previous luxuriant conditions.
In Abazhou, the towns of "Small Hydro Power for Firewood"
Ecological Protection Project have reached over 50%. In
Hunan province, some forest companies stopping felling and
succeeded restructuring for other sector by means of developing
SHP for firewood. In Anhui province, the SHP was developed
to such a degree that no money was spent on SHP for firewood
project and over 1200 Yuan RMB as dividend was given yearly
to each household on average. The practice shows that the
development of SHP and the implementation of SHP for firewood
are multi-functional and have a key role to play in solving
the issue of hay for the farmers, supplying rural energy,
consolidating the ecological construction foundation, protecting
the ecological environment, resolving the issues of "agriculture,
farmers and villages" and improving the living conditions
of the farmers.
It is known that <Planning of
Small Hydro Power for firewood Ecological Protection Project>
has been evaluated and approved by China International Engineering
consultation Corp. It concluded that the construction of
Small Hydro Power for firewood Ecological Protection Project
is the valid approach to resolving the firewood issue in
the rural areas and it can play a special role in improving
the ecological environment, reducing the green house emission
and promoting a well-off society. The <Planning> essentially
reaches the depth requirement at this stage. The <Planning>
regards it rational to solve the issue of firewood for 104
million rural farmers of 2830 households, to newly install
SHP for firewood 24.038 million kW with the annual power
generation 78.12 bill kWh. The <Planning> considers
the project feasible. The total amount of the distribution
of SHP potential could satisfy the requirement in the <Planning>.
The distribution of SHP resources is mainly in agreement
with the distribution of the rural farmers relying on hay
to cook and heating. The SHP projects are featured by the
simple engineering, shorter construction period, quicker
effect, low cost, proven technique, reliable operation,
little inundation, pollution-free, low operation cost and
longer use for the farmers as affordable energy for firewood.
SHP exploitation is a viable part for mid and small basin
comprehensive development, beneficial for rational use of
hydro power resources and increase of the ability to prevent
floods and droughts. Meanwhile, SHP is internationally recognized
as the green renewable energy appropriate for wider application
and is in conformity with the orientation of China's energy
structure adjustment. The farmers could afford the price
of electricity to the houses by the SHP for firewood. With
the increase of the rural economy and farmers' income, the
capability of the farmers against the price of electricity
by the SHP for firewood will be increased accordingly. The
evaluation holds that all the preliminary work for the pilot
projects are ready for starting the construction.
It is introduced that in 2003 the
State selected 26 "Small Hydro Power for Firewood"
ecological protection projects to initiate mainly in mid
and western key ecological construction areas rich in hydropower
resources, densely populated as SHP for firewood and with
urgent need of the farmers for firewood, covering 5 provinces
and 26 counties.(2004-2-24)
