China halts $30bn hydropower project

A $30bn plan to build a string of hydropower stations along the upper reaches of the Yangtze River has been halted by China's Ministry of Environmental Protection.

It took action after dams in Yunnan province built by two of the country's biggest power companies, China Huaneng and China Huadian, were ruled as illegal.

In January, Huaneng completed work on a dam on the Jinsha River, in China's southwest, in order to build its Longkaikou hydropower plant. That same month, Huadian constructed a dam on the Jinsha for its Ludila hydropower facility. However, neither dam had received prior government approval.

Many of China's state-owned utility companies, including Huaneng and Huadian, embark on projects without seeking ministerial authorisation, which is required by law for any power capacity expansion plan.

The environmental authorities rarely take action against such developments, but the ministry has now ordered a halt to the two dam projects in addition to all future expansion plans by Huaneng and Huadian. Together, the two utility companies produce nearly 20 per cent of China's electricity output.

Ma Jun, director of the non-governmental Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, welcomed the decision, arguing that "the hydropower resource along the Jinsha River is already being overexploited, which will damage the ecological security in the region".

The ban is unprecedented, according to Zhao Yi, the dean of the school of environmental science and engineering at North China Electric Power University in Beijing. "As far as I know, the environmental authorities had never been able to rein in those big boys," he told the South China Morning Post newspaper.

However, the projects could eventually receive approval, so long as the utility companies undertake the necessary environmental reviews.

The planned hydropower stations were to be built along the 2,290km Jinsha River, a tributary to Asia's largest river, the Yangtze. The projects have an estimated installed capacity of 20GW, equal to that of China's $39bn Three Gorges Dam - the world's biggest hydroelectric power station.

The Three Gorges Dam, which is built on the Yangtze, has been the target of international criticism for its negative impact on the environment. The project displaced 1.4m people and flooded more than 250 sq km of farmland.