With the increasing concern about
the global environment for past decades, more and more
countries have been paying attention to the development
of renewable energy. Small hydropower is one of such environmentally
sound energies, appropriate for the decentralized and
hilly rural areas. Its social and economic benefit could
be more salient if it is developed in combination with
irrigation, flood control, fishery, tourism, recreation,
navigation and etc.
Since late 1970s, great importance
has been paid to the development of small hydropower (SHP)
and other renewable energies by the international energy
sector due to the well-known "oil crisis" and
serious concern on the environmental pollution caused
by traditional fossil fuel generation. In addition to
the enthusiasm of revitalization of SHP plants in some
developed countries, many developing countries were also
keen to start their development of SHP. One of major obstacles
in this respect is lack of technology and talents. For
overcoming these difficulties, relevant UN organizations
have taken a series of measures including setting up the
regional and international centers of SHP for strengthening
the technology and information exchange to promote the
development of SHP in developing countries. Under this
background, our Center, HRC was thus established in 1981
jointly sponsored by the relevant UN organizations and
the Chinese government. One of the major tasks of HRC
is organizing training workshops for technical personnel
from developing countries. More than 40 such workshops
have been performed since then, some of which have been
sponsored by the UN organization and some of which by
the Chinese government. From its very beginning, detailed
teaching materials have been carefully prepared by HRC.
These materials have been repeatedly revised and elaborated
after practical presentation during several tens of workshops
and useful response from the trainees from various countries.
The present version of this textbook is just finalized
on the above background.
We believe it should not only
be valuable to the trainees in the future training workshops
but also of reference to all SHP workers over the world
even including administrative persons and decision makers
in the SHP field. The function of the textbook will be
multiplied when it is applied together with the oral presentation
by the lecturers accompanied with face-to-face discussions.
The basic concept and principles
in compilation of this textbook could be briefed in the
followings:
Basic theories are principally
not stated in the text as trainees here are mostly of
engineer level ;
Basic professional knowledge still
needs to be introduced as several specialities are involved
in the SHP sector and trainees here may require cross-discipline
study;
Core of the text should make the
most of the practice made and experience gained in the
SHP development in China together with their compatibility
and comparison with international practice;
Five special topics are attached
separately for in-depth discussion of several interesting
topics in the international SHP arena.
The objectives of the text book
are to help the trainees command overall knowledge of
SHP technology together with fundamental understanding
of multi-discipline common sense of SHP generation; and
emphasis has been paid on design and operation work together
with management aspect for trainees to get more in-depth
knowledge for their future use. Specific objectives of
various specialities are stated in each relevant chapter.
The following specialists have
contributed to revising the textbook: Mr.Zhu Xiaozhang
chapter one, Mr. Zheng Naibo chapter two and chapter nine,
Mr.Lu Tianshou chapter three, Mr.Huang Jianping chapter
four, Mr.Li Zhiwu and Huang Jianping chapter five, Mr.
Xu Wei chapter six, Ms Cheng Xialei chapter seven and
Mr. Xu Jincai chapter eight.
The five special topics attached
to the textbook include <Ideas for Operating Small
Hydropower Plants Cost-Effectively> by Ms. Cheng Xialei,
Mr. Pan Daqing, and Mr. Yves Grandmaitre; <Small Hydropower
Contributes to Poverty Reduction and Rural Integrated
Development in China> by Mr Zhu Xiaozhang and Ms Cheng
Xialei, <Private Participation in Small Hydropower
Development> and <Small Hydropower Development and
Environmental Protection> by Mr. Zhao Jianda; and <Prototype
Efficiency Test for Unit and Technical Refurbishment of
Hydropower Station> written by Mr.Xu Wei and translated
by Ms Shen Xuequn.
HRC would like to express its
thanks for the contributions by a group of the original
authors, experts and rewriters. The publication of the
current revised textbook has been sponsored by Special
Publication Fund of Nanjing Hydraulic Research Institute.
Thanks should be given to the sponsor, Nanjing Hydraulic
Research Institute, and Zhejiang University Press, the
publisher, making the publication of the revised textbook
possible.
The revised textbook is organized
and checked by HRC's honorary director, Mr. Zhu Xiaozhang
and HRC's deputy director, Ms. Cheng Xialei. The editor
in charge is chief of HRC's Division of Foreign Affairs
& Training, Mr. Pan Daqing. It is finalized by Director
of HRC, Dr. Chen Shengshui.
The publication of this revised
textbook is part of the HRC's effort to the mission of
promoting global SHP exploitation. In spite of the efforts
by many SHP specialists and due to the scope of the book,
it is not possible to cover all aspects concerning SHP
development and unavoidably there are some errors or deficiencies
in the book. Comments, corrections or suggestions are
invited.
Contact information:
Hangzhou Regional (Asia-Pacific)
Center for Small Hydropower
122, Xeuyuan Road, Hangzhou, China,
310012
hrc@hrcshp.org
dqpan@hrcshp.org
Web site: www.hrcshp.org
