Baihetan hydropower project straddling the provinces of Southwest China's Yunnan and Sichuan Photo: VCG

China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has approved the construction of a new hydropower plant in Southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region, which will have capital backing of 58.38 billion yuan, Huaneng Lancang River Hydropower Co, the builder of the plant, announced on Tuesday.

The total capacity of the hydropower plant will reach 2.6 million kilowatts, and the annual average electricity volume generated by the plant will surpass 11.28 billion kilowatt-hours.

At present, the construction is technically feasible and it can start soon. The construction plan was approved by the NDRC in April 2023, and is expected to be finished in 132 months, said the company.

Huaneng Lancang River Hydropower Co said the hydropower plant will further optimize the local energy structure, and will transform Xizang's natural resource advantages into fiscal revenue. The hydropower plant may generate over 1 billion yuan of tax income for local financial departments, allowing for upgraded infrastructure, more employment and improvement in local people's living standards.

The company revealed a pre-work report about developing the hydropower resources in the upstream Lancang River in Xizang in April 2021, which said it could be one of China's major hydropower resource bases.

The report cited a construction plan issued by the China Renewable Energy Engineering Institute claiming that the region is capable of forming a clean energy base with abundant hydro and solar power.

According to the plan, the clean energy base has total hydro and solar power generation capacity of 20 million kilowatts and it can transmit 57.1 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity to the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area each year.

The clean energy base will start each phase of construction gradually during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25). It will be put into operation in 2030 and completed in 2035, according to the plan.

Global Times