Originally by Lu Yuhan,Reporter; Wang Zongyang & Pang Bo,Correspondents,Poster News(Dazhong Network ) 

Apply Chinese standards to hydropower projects

At present, the Group has four hydropower projects in Nepal with total installed capacity of 226MW, and estimated investment about 457.8 million USD. Among them, Bagmati Hydropower Project (22MW) goes first. With an annual generation of 133.92GWh,it has put into operation after been invested 40 million USD and won the foresaid award this year. Rasuwa Bhotekoshi Hydropower Project (120MW), an undergoing one with an annual generation of 664GWh, planned to invest 212 million USD, comes next, which was included in Sichuan Provincial R&B Initiative Key Projects Library in 2017 and is expected to complete construction by the end of December, 2022.The other two projects are cascade ones, named Rahughat Mangale Hydropower Project (35.5 MW) and Upper Rahughat Hydropower Project (48.5 MW). The former is ,with an annual generation of 203.1GWh,planned to invest 51million USD in total,which started construction in December 2019 and is expected to complete in 31 months. And the latter is,with annual generation 284.41GWh,  estimated to invest 59 million USD in total and it has carried out preliminary work.  

 Transit from a standards adapter to a developer

For a long time, Shuifa Group has committed itself to transforming from a adapter to a developer in the international standards management system.Its efforts actively helped improvement of China’s competitiveness in the international hydropower industry and having a say in it. It brings its advantages of power planning, engineering ,supervision and construction to promote the internationalization of China’s standards for hydropower engineering by providing high-end consulting,planning and engineering. In participating in B&R initiative, Shuifa Group continuously integrates domestic superior resources like technology, equipment, fund and brand image into EPC contracts. With such efforts, the company introduces high level management and standards into other areas, which effectively create an good image of the company, and that of China as well.   

Compared with the domestic red ocean, Nepal is more than a blue ocean in hydropower market. Although the country is rich in hydro electricity resources, accounting for about 2.3% of the whole world, it frequently suffers from power outage across the country resulting from the lagging power infrastructure.Such situation is more severe in dry season,especially in areas outside Kathmandu where, in average, people have no electricity supply seven or eight hours a day. Shuifa Group’s four projects can supply 1.3 billion kWh of electricity to Nepal after completion, helping to solve one-fifth of Nepal’s power gap and vigorously alleviating the country’s electrcity. Meanwhile, construction of those projects provides busisness opportunities to local industry and job chances to local community. Industries like construction, transportation,steel and cement etc. are rapidly rising. Local people have more chances to get access to work and train. For example, in construction of Rasuwa Bhotekoshi Hydropower Project(120MW), more than 1600 employment opportunities have been created for the local community so far. Due to the lack of well-trained technical workers, Shuifa hired local workers and invited many senior technical personnel from China to provid them with professional training. After put into operation, the project will supply electricity to the Nepal National Grid. That  will play an important role in local transportation, tourism and social and economic development, and will undoubtedly contribute to deepening the friendship between China and Nepal.

Targeting carbon neutral ,develop hydropower

 In September this year, China made clear the goal of carbon peak in 2030 and carbon neutral in 2060. Countries in the world are striving for conserving energy and reducing emissions, that gives priority to the development of hydropower and making great use of hydropower resources. Currently, Shuifa Group has 29 hydropoer subsidiaries in total,including 13 in operation, 3 in trial operation, 4 under construction, 5 in stop and 4 in the to-be-lauched list. Total installed capacity of its operational projects is 717.99MW with an  annual generation expected to be 1265GWh, and that of the rest is 636.3MW. Hydropower projects are mainly distributed in Sichuan, Yunnan and other provinces and countries such as Nepal.

China has both the proven reserves of hydropower resources and the feasible hydropower resources ranked first in the world. As hydropower is clean, renewable, pollution-free, low operation costs and convenient for peak-load regulation,it is conducive to improve the utilization of resources, economic and social benefits. Such features,especially renewability and cleanliness, make it the most important type in energy industry, and it has a huge development space. Developing intermediate and miniature hydropower projects in accordance with the local circumstances, and transforming such resources into high quality electricity can practically help rural areas cast off poverty and set out on a road to prosperity, and finally uplift the people’s living standard, which is extremely important to protecting our enviornment and improve a harmony development in rural society, economy and environment.