China's Water Power Revolution Hits the Skids

Despite being the world's greatest producer of, and investor in, hydropower, experts warn that China is wasting its potential for hydro energy.

China's ambitious plan to use hydropower to boost the country's use of renewables to 15 percent of energy output in 2020 is hitting a wall, warn experts, with poor planning leading to a waste of the country's vaunted water power projects.

According to representatives of the China Hydropower Society, if China were to make full use of its hydropower facilities, its total annual output would be around 2.2 trillion kilowatt hours [kwh], more than twice its current output of around 1 trillion kwh.

The admission comes after Beijing's hosting of the World Hydropower Congress last month, where the challenges facing China's hydropower industry were discussed, which according to China Economic Weekly accounted for 27 percent of global capacity in 2014.

A briefing by the IHA published last month showed that of the 39 gigawatts of new hydropower capacity added globally last year, more than half, 21.25 gigawatts, was added in China. The next most active were Brazil and Malaysia, with 3.3 gigawatts of added capacity.

In March 2011, the Chinese government approved the country’s 12th Five-Year Plan, which included plans to construct more than 60 key hydropower projects in eight major hydropower zones on the country's rivers. According to China Energy News, if the plan is realized, China will exploit around 71 percent of its available hydroelectric power. 

The plan also addressed targets for the use of renewable energy; the 2015 target for the use of non-fossil fuel is 11.4 percent. In addition, the Chinese administration is aiming to have renewable energy to account for 15 percent of the country's total energy use by 2020.

According to the China Times, a major industry problem is the large amount of water being released, its power unused, at power plants such as those located in the provinces of Sichuan and Yunnan.

The problems have been attributed to a lack of planning and grid infrastructure: 

"Part of the problem seems to have been that some projects have been being started before the necessary approvals and assessments had been completed, and tough new rules have come into place to ensure that due process is followed in the future," the IHA wrote in its assessment of the state of the industry in China.

China boasts 11 of the world's 25 largest hydroelectric plants, including the biggest in the world, the Three Gorges Dam, the construction of which cost $24 billion over 17 years, during which 1.3 million people were relocated. Last year the plant generated 98.8 billion kwh of electricity, the highest ever annual output of any power station.