Demolition of small hydropower, why "one size fits all"
【Ecology topic】
Small hydropower in my country refers to hydropower stations with an installed capacity of less than 50,000 kilowatts. It is an internationally recognized important infrastructure for clean and renewable energy, flood control, irrigation and water supply in small and medium-sized villages and towns, and comprehensive utilization of water resources in small and medium-sized rivers.
The United Nations has been calling for developing countries to fully understand the unique advantages of small hydropower in improving people's livelihood and protecting the environment.
Small hydropower has been playing an active role in my country's green and low-carbon development and poverty alleviation.
However, due to the large historical span of the industry, the planning and design of some small hydropower stations constructed in the early years are not scientific enough, and the operation and management are not perfect, some river sections have reduced water flow.
In addition, some small hydropower facilities are also obsolete.
Therefore, in 2018, the Ministry of Water Resources, the National Development and Reform Commission, and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment began to clean up and rectify the small hydropower industry, clearly requiring "classified rectification, one stop and one policy" (divided into three categories: withdrawal, retention, and rectification).
In the rectification plan determined in 2020 for the Yangtze River Economic Belt, the amount of small hydropower to be dismantled only accounts for 14% of the total, and most of them are reserved and rectified.
However, the author recently observed that some provinces and regions have changed their plans. In some places, the proportion of small hydropower demolition is as high as nearly 100%, and this “one size fits all” demolition is expanding to other provinces and regions outside the Yangtze River Economic Belt. New problems and hidden risks cannot be ignored, and we must pay close attention to them.
1. It is neither conducive to flood control nor conducive to "dual carbon"
From the perspective of water conservancy, the “one size fits all” dismantling of small hydropower will first bury serious safety hazards for flood control and disaster reduction.
Reservoir dams are essential infrastructures in modern society, and hydropower stations are just by-products of reservoir dams.
The reservoir also accumulates a large amount of potential energy while water is being stored. If energy is not dissipated during the discharge process, the stability and safety of the dam and downstream bank slope of the reservoir will inevitably be affected.
Hydropower stations use the water drop to generate electricity, which is the most effective means to realize energy dissipation and protect the safety of reservoirs and dams.
At present, the practice of keeping the dam of the reservoir but dismantling the hydropower station in some areas will not restore the original appearance of the river, and put the reservoir at a high risk of easy dam collapse.
Because the design of the spillway of the reservoir dam can only be used for short-term flood discharge and cannot be opened for a long time.
The dismantling of the hydropower station caused the reservoir to discharge water and no longer pass through the hydropower station to dissipate energy. It could only "fly down" with huge energy from the spillway, making the dam's operation scheduling completely out of the design conditions, and the spillway has been in abnormal operation mode. .
Some dams lasted only more than a year, and serious safety problems such as dam foundation concrete spalling, steel bars exposed, and slope concrete walls washed out.
The Changtan River, Cha'an, Chalin River, and Mulongtan reservoirs in Zhangjiajie, Hunan Province after the hydropower station was demolished in August 2019 are examples.
In addition, without the hydropower station, the dam's daily safety inspection and maintenance, the power supply of the flood gate, the precise dispatch of the reservoir, and the timely replenishment of flood control materials have also been affected.
It can be said that if things go on like this, there will be endless troubles.
From the perspective of environmental protection, the removal of small hydropower "one size fits all" is also not conducive to the implementation of the "carbon peak and carbon neutral" goal.
Under the "dual carbon" goal, my country's renewable energy will become the home of electricity.
According to industry estimates, after my country's wind power and photovoltaic development goals are achieved in 2030, there will be a 1 trillion kilowatt-hour electricity gap.
While small hydropower accounts for 1/5 of my country's total hydropower resources, its contribution to power generation and emission reduction cannot be ignored.
According to estimates, if my country's hydropower development level increases from the current level of less than 44% to the average level of 80% in developed countries, it will be able to meet the electricity gap demand in 2030.
At the same time, small hydropower is also of great significance in terms of energy storage.
The larger the scale of wind power and photovoltaic development, the higher the requirements for grid energy storage.
Statistics show that most of the global energy storage projects use pumped storage as the main method.
The rapid growth of wind photovoltaic projects in European and American countries and the construction of flexible power grids are based on prioritizing and fully developing hydropower.
Recently, the International Energy Agency issued a special report, emphasizing that "the global energy transition should not'forget' hydropower."
However, pumped storage currently accounts for only 1.43% of my country's power grids, and the development of large-scale pumped storage is restricted by the scarcity of site resources.
Many small hydropower stations can be transformed into distributed pumped-storage power stations and become important supports for flexible power grids.
In addition, the current small hydropower is being demolished in some areas “one size fits all” when the resource potential is not yet fully developed, so these areas that have already achieved the “carbon peak” of electricity have to rely on the increase of coal power to solve the lack of electricity and the grid. The stability issue undoubtedly runs counter to the "dual carbon" goal.
2. Easily cause legal, economic and social issues
From the perspective of rural revitalization, hydropower stations are important water conservancy infrastructure in rural areas.
The Water Law, Electric Power Law, Renewable Energy Law, and a series of documents issued by the Party Central Committee and the State Council in recent years have clearly supported the development of hydropower resources in rural areas.
At present, in some areas, small hydropower and illegal mining, random construction, etc. are juxtaposed, and the phenomenon of forced demolition on the grounds of "violation of laws and regulations" has brought a series of legal problems: First, departmental regulations and local regulations have surpassed national laws. .
Many small hydropower stations were built before the delimitation of nature reserves and wetland parks. Some localities deny the legality of hydropower stations approved under the Water Law, Administrative License Law, and Environmental Impact Assessment Law in accordance with departmental rules and local regulations. This is a lower level. Law negates superior law.
Second, the identification of "serious damage to the ecological environment" is not standardized.
Whether small hydropower seriously damages the ecological environment must be evaluated and identified by a professional organization in accordance with national regulations.
At present, many power stations that are not in the core area and buffer zone of the nature reserve, the environmental review certificate and the environmental protection acceptance are even assessed by the Ministry of Water Resources as "green small hydropower". They are also considered to be "seriously destroying the ecological environment" and have been forcibly demolished. .
In addition, in order to solve the problem of serious contradiction between the delineation of nature reserves and the people’s production and life, and to avoid the large-scale demolition of legal water conservancy and hydropower projects, the document No. 71 of the Ministry of Natural Resources in 2020 clearly stipulates: "The original core area and original nature reserve The buffer zone, the legal water conservancy and hydropower facilities that existed before the establishment of the nature reserve, can be adjusted to the general control area." But in reality, the spirit of this document has not been effectively implemented, and the boundary delineation of some protected areas is still unreasonable.
Objectively speaking, most of my country's small hydropower areas are nationally impoverished counties that have just taken off their hats. Hydropower is an important pillar of the local economy and employment, and most of them are key projects for local governments to attract investment in accordance with national policies.
Once "small hydropower" is demolished in a "one size fits all" manner, it will have a greater impact on the fiscal revenue of local cities and counties.
In particular, hydropower stations that have fulfilled the procedures for approval, approval and acceptance, and comply with the Administrative Licensing Law, Environmental Impact Assessment Law and other laws and regulations, are forcibly demolished before the administrative permit expires, requiring a large amount of financial compensation, plus the subsequent flood prevention and security of the dam , Maintenance and conservation still need a large amount of expenditure, which puts a lot of pressure on local finances.
At the same time, the power station was demolished without implementation of asset compensation, employee resettlement, bank loans, etc., which could easily cause social problems.
It should also be noted that hydropower converts the destructive kinetic energy of rivers into electricity, which is an effective means to avoid soil erosion and reduce landslides and debris flows and other geological disasters.
Many remote mountainous areas have benefited from the development of small hydropower to get rid of the predicament of frequent mountain torrents, flushing houses and destroying fields, and have a basic guarantee for economic and social development, and the removal of small hydropower will greatly reduce the local ability to resist geological disasters. , Increasing the risk of poverty due to disasters and return to poverty due to disasters.
3. Scientific renovation of small hydropower must be targeted
From a scientific point of view, hydropower stations neither consume water nor pollute water.
The phenomenon of water reduction and drainage in the rivers where some small hydropower is located is not necessarily an inherent defect of small hydropower. There may also be multiple reasons such as natural climate, geography and poor operation and management.
Nowadays, these problems can be solved through technological transformation and strengthened management.
On July 22 this year, the "Opinions of the Party Central Committee and the State Council on Promoting High-Quality Development in the Central Region in the New Era" was released, again clarifying that "green small hydropower should be developed in accordance with local conditions."
It is indeed necessary to rectify the small hydropower industry at present, but it is necessary to prevent the “reconstruction and light management” of the past from being “dismantled by one”.
To this end, the author makes the following four suggestions:
It should address the adverse ecological effects of some power stations in a targeted manner.
At present, the small hydropower industry has fully completed the technical transformation of "ecological flow release" and established a real-time online monitoring and management system to ensure that electricity can only be generated after the ecological flow of the river is met.
The original steep slope makes it difficult to store water except in the rainy season. Instead, the hydroelectric power station is able to store abundance and make up for dryness, which significantly improves the water conservation capacity.
The renovation of small hydropower should focus on scientifically determining and strictly supervising the "ecological flow", and an ecological electricity price system should be established as soon as possible.
Canal power stations that have been demolished behind the dam should resume work and production as soon as possible.
The practice of keeping the dam but dismantling the hydropower station is against the laws of science.
At present, the reservoir dams that have lost the energy dissipation of hydropower stations have a storage capacity of hundreds of millions of cubic meters, and some village schools are located within two kilometers of the dam. Once the dam collapses, the consequences will be disastrous.
It is the flood season, and the dam must be returned to normal operation as soon as possible to fundamentally eliminate major safety hazards.
The evaluation and demonstration of the system engineering should be done before the dismantling of the hydropower station.
Hydropower is a systematic project with multiple social benefits. The feasibility assessment and demonstration required to dismantle a hydropower station in developed countries is not even less than that of building a power station, in order to prevent huge waste of resources.
So far, there is no precedent for the centralized withdrawal of dams and the centralized demolition of hydropower stations at home and abroad.
What are the risks of demolishing the power station, how to restore the ecology after demolishing, and what are the impacts on local power grids and local flood control, water supply, irrigation, and traffic? Authoritative experts in related fields must conduct in-depth research and demonstration to ensure that the rectification plan can withstand historical and practical tests. .
Small hydropower stations that really need to withdraw should ensure that the compensation is in place in time.
The construction of hydropower stations approved in accordance with the law is forcibly demolished without compensation, which does not comply with the provisions of the Civil Code and the Administrative Licensing Law.
According to the author's understanding, many power stations have been dismantled without making it clear whether there is compensation, and a small number of power stations with compensation agreements have not been able to secure compensation funds.
In response to this problem, it is necessary to consider the estimated value of the hydropower plant’s assets and the expected return in the future operating period, and give fair and reasonable compensation to the exiting small hydropower.
(Author: Wang Yinan, special researcher of Beijing Xi Jinping's Research Center for Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for the New Era, Researcher of Development Research Center of the State Council)