Cecilia Ledesma is Senior Programme Officer at the International Center on Small Hydro Power (ICSHP). ICSHP, under auspices of United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and China's Ministry of Water Resources, promotes small hydro power development worldwide. Projects focus on training and capacity building to facilitate rural electrification and sustainable economic development in developing countries. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Environment, Economics and Politics (EEP) from Claremont McKenna College. Cecilia presents a case study of using small hydro power, demonstrating how renewable energy is applicable and relevant for communities across different contexts – from rural mountainous communities in Pakistan, communities in the UK concerned about climate change, or reforestation efforts in China. Renewable energy is a powerful tool for global sustainable development. However, community initiative and engagement is key to project success.

1. China’s Small Hydropower in Rural
Energy Development
Li Zhiwu
National Research Institute for Rural Electrification, China
Hangzhou regional (Asia & Pacific) Center for Small Hydropower
2012.8.1

2. As one of the multi-lateral technical cooperation
projects, HRC was set up in 1981, under the sponsorship of
Chinese government and UNDP, HRC is a organization
engaged in the SHP research, training, information and
consultation in the Asia-pacific region as well as
worldwide. Domestically, HRC is called National Research
Institute for Rural Electrification.

3. ’84 SHP Hydrology Training Workshop

4. 2008 TCDC Training Workshop on SHP

5. Contents
SHP Development in China
Definition of Small Hydropower
2
China's SHP Technical Features3
Incentive Policies4
1
Barriers & Outlook5

6. Ⅰ. Definition of Small Hydropower
The definition of small hydropower differs from country to
country, more consensus is that small hydropower is divided into
three categories:
micro ( < 100kW )
mini ( 101 ~ 1000 kW )
small ( 1001 ~ 10000 kW).
Country/International
Organization
Classification(kW)
(Micro) (Mini) (Small)
International
Conferences on small
hydropower
<100 101-500 501-10000
Thailand <200 201-6000 6001-15000
China <100 101-500 501- 50000
Turkey <100 101-1000 1001-5000
U.S. <500 501-2000 <15000
India <100 <2000 <15000
Malaysia <25 25-500 <5000
Nepal <50 <500 <5000
Panama <100 101-1000 1001-10000
France <500 501-2000 2001-8000

7. Ⅰ. Definition of Small Hydropower
In China, small hydropower refers to hydropower stations with the
installed capacity of 50MW and below, as well as small hydropower
supplied local power grids.
It is associated with the development of national economy in
harmony, especially with the development of rural economics and rural
electricity demand.
1950s: <500kW
1960s: <3000kW
Late1960s: <12000kW
1980s: <25000kW
1990s: <50000kW

8. Ⅱ. SHP Development in China
By the end of 2011:
★ No. of SHP stations in operation 45,145
★ Total installed capacity 62,030 MW
★ Annual generation 174,745 GWh
★ SHP supplying area covered:
1/2 of nation’s territory
300+m rural population
1/3 of counties
★ Percentage of rural household accessible to electricity 99.6%

9. Position of SHP in hydro- and electric power sector:
★ % of SHP capacity in hydropower sector 30%
( 5-6% for the whole world;
10% for European countries;
1-3% for most developing countries)
★ % of SHP energy in electric power sector 6%
( 1% for the whole world;
<1% for most developing countries)

10. ★ SHP-based local grids cover 800 counties
★ 540,000 km of 10kV,35kV and 110kV transmission
lines in these counties
★ total SHP assets exceeds USD 32 billion
★ personnel engaged in the SHP sector ---- 658,000 of
whom, 150,000 are technical staff

11. ★ Three Channels of energy supply for rural
electrification:
□ Extension of the state grids
□ Diesel energy or thermal power
□ Local decentralized renewable energy
SHP, Solar, Wind, biomass
In China, elec. demand in hilly rural area mainly relied on SHP
653 primary R.E. counties set up (1985-2000)
409 HP-based R.E. counties set up (2001-2005)
432 HP-based R.E. counties set up (2006-2010)

12. Various channels for raising funds
Funding channel Capital Amount
(billion Yuan)
Proportion
of the total
investment
(%)
(1) State investment
(2) Bank loan
(3) Self-raised funds
(local government)
(4)”Electricity support electricity”
program
(5) power construction
(6) Foreign funds and others
Total
0.9
6.5
4.2
0.5
0.4
2.0
14.5
5.9
45.0
29.1
3.3
2.7
14.0
100

13. III. China's Small Hydropower Technical Features
SHPStandardSystem
SHPSuppliedLocalGrids
SHPPlanningSystem
SerializedSHPEquipment
AVarietyofTypes
1 2 3 4 5 6
EcologicalProtection

14.  Design head: from less 2 meters up to 1000 meters;
 Dam type: including earth, stone masonry dam, concrete dam,
rock fill dam, concrete face rock fill dam, rock core wall dam, rubber
dam and so on.
 Water intake and water diversion system: including open
channel, aqueduct, all kinds of pressure, non-pressure piping, tunnel
etc.
 Powerhouses: various types, including ground, underground,
circular, elliptic and so on.
 Overall layout: including the diversion type, the dam type, river
bed type etc..
 Power station elevation: some stations have elevation of 4700
m built in Tibet.
1
AVarietyofTypes
China has almost all types of small hydropower stations listed
in a textbook.

15. 1
AVarietyofTypes
High head
Low head (3.5m)SHP Station
4700m elevation in Tibet.

16. 1
AVarietyofTypes
SHP Station
Containerized
hydropower station
 Completely done
in manufacturer ,
trucked to the site
 Less Time and
Cost on site

17. 1
AVarietyofTypes
Stone Masonry Arch Dam
Concrete Arch Dam
Dam type

18. 1
AVarietyofTypes
Stone Masonry Arch Dam
Concrete Arch Dam
Concrete surface rock fill dam
Dam type

19. 1
AVarietyofTypes
Stone Masonry Arch Dam
Concrete Arch Dam
Dam type
Rubber Dam
Automatic
Shutter Dam

20. China has more than 100 small hydropower equipment
manufacturers. They adopt unified design and drawings, as
well as standardized spare parts.
Small hydropower equipment standardization and
serialization plays an important role in promoting high-speed
and large-scale development of small hydropower in China.
2
SerializedSHPEquipment

21. 2
SerializedSHPEquipment
Small hydro turbines have a total of 26 models in series, 83 kinds
of products, applicable in the head range of 2 ~ 1000 meters.
Main turbine types are axial flow, propeller, shaft axial flow, bulb,
Francis, Pelton, Turgo, cross flow and micro integrated units.
Turbine

22. 2
SerializedSHPEquipment
Turbine
Francis turbine:
 The most popular type,
widely applied;
 Head of 20-700m, speed of
500-1500rpm and installed
capacity up to 1000MW;
 Simpler structure, reliable
operation and high efficiency
(up to 94%);
 Smaller unit dimensions and
lower cost, (compared).

23. 2
SerializedSHPEquipment
Turbine
Axial-flow turbine:
 Propeller (fixed blades) and
Kaplan (double regulation). Water
head of 2-50m for Propeller, Water
head of 2-80m for Kaplan;
 Suitable for lower head and
larger flow;
 Poor cavitations and low
mechanical strength, if compared
with Francis turbine;
 Efficiency is over 94%;
 Max. unit capacity in China:
200MW.

24. 2
SerializedSHPEquipment
Tubular turbine:
 Water head of 2-35m, for extra low head and larger flow rate;
 Four types: Bulb type, shaft-extension, pit-Tubular, fully
Tubular type;
 Neither spiral case nor draft tube;
 Fixed blades and adjustable blades;
 Fluent water flow, high efficiency, low civil works cost;
 Max. unit capacity of Bulb turbine in China: 40MW.
Turbine

25. 2
SerializedSHPEquipment
Impulse turbine:
 For high head (300-1700m) and small flow rate;
 Pelton, Turgo and cross-flow;
 Horizontal or vertical arrangement;
 Runner jets more than 6 (single jet, multi jets-2, 3, 4,6, 8);
 The highest head of Pelton unit in China:Tianhu hydropower
station with a head of 1074m;
Turbine

26. Hydro generators have 2 standard series, 16 kinds of
models, and more than 280 products.
In addition, governors, excitation equipment and others of
equipment for small hydropower station all have standard series.
2
SerializedSHPEquipment
switchgear
Generator

27. (1) Rural Electrification Planning
3
SHPPlanningSystem
Beginning in 1982, China carried out small hydropower-
based rural electrification pilot counties, as of in 2000 , it has
covered the construction of 653 electrification counties.
Based on constant experience and practice, a set of suitable
rural electrification planning method has been established.
Many valuable experiences have been summarized into
national or industrial standards, such as “small hydropower
supply area rural electrification planning regulations”, “rural
hydropower supply area power development planning
guidelines”, etc.

28.  SHP cascade development planning
3
SHPPlanningSystem
(2) SHP River Basin Development Planning
Cascade exploitation aims at making full use of water head
of a river; enabling the construction of a low dam at the upper
reaches of a river which regulates the water for all the
downstream hydro stations; exploitation can be developed in
several phase.
St.1
St. 3
St.2
St.4
St.5
St.6
Zhejiang Panxi SHP cascades

29. 3
SHPPlanningSystem
 SHP cross river basin development planning
Cross-basin water diversion is a kind of
effective pattern of small hydropower
development technology. In a suitable terrain
and geological conditions, water diversion
from neighboring basin can increase the
amount of power generation.
But cross-basin water diversion may
cause the change of ecological environment,
which must be considered, so it is not
suggested to be spread in a blind way.

30. Different from other developing countries, China
attached great importance to building up power
supply area for SHP.
The county-level grids and trans-county grids
were formed in some places, with capacity generally
ranging from about 30 to 80MW. Over 1500 counties
have constructed small hydropower and built up
different scales of local grids.
4
SHPSuppliedLocalGrids

31. A relatively complete standard system of SHP
has been formed. So far, 35 standards have been
issued and about 20 standards are being
compiled.
To promote the development of SHP in the
world, our government is planning to translate
some of them into English.
5
SHPStandardSystem

32. SHP development on the whole has more benefit
than fraud, but we can not ignore its impact on river
ecological system, especially the diversion type SHPs,
if poorly planned, would cause environmental problems
such as river flow dehydration.
In recent years, China has begun research on the
ecological flow in the river, explored the establishment
of green hydropower mechanism to hold up the
concept of “protection in the development,
development in the protection”
6
EcologicalProtection
Dehydrated River Section
SHP replacing firewood

33. 33
0.19yuan/kW·h （0.45）
< 50MW
Finance input by gov.
Dev. of SHP
Cheap electricity
Substituting fuel
Conservation of
forest & vegetation
Central & local
Firewood, coal
Grain for Green program
Nature reserve
Water and soil loss
controlling area
SHP Replacing Firewood

34. Pilot project
Expanded pilot
project
Promotion
project (plan)
Time 2003-2004 2006-2008 2009-2015
Projects NO. 26 81 1022
Province 5 21 24
Installed capacity 58MW 150MW 1706MW
Benefit population 200,000 636,000 5777,000
Protected forest 1 040km2 1353km2 15933km2
Total investment 0.28 b 1.03b 14.13b
central gov. 0.129b 0.3b 5.7b
34
General Status
SHP Replacing Firewood

35. 35
Benefits — Health effects
Clean kitchen
after
Indoor pollution
before
SHP Replacing Firewood

36. Road afterRoad before
SHP Replacing Firewood

37. 1.Policies on dev.
◆ Focusing on local capability (including enterprises or individuals) with-
assistance from central government.
◆ Core of SHP policies: “3-selfs”, stuck
those who invested in SHP stations would get the benefits from the
station.
2.Policies on investment
◆ Furthering the policy of “elec. Support elec.”
All the profit from SHP stations could be exempted from tax and used
for investment in SHP. Significant role in 20 years.
Ⅳ. Incentive Polices

38. 3.Policies on tax
◆ Sales tax only 5% of the profit from a SHP station before
1994;
◆ Value-added tax 6% since 1994 (17% for large hydro)
4.Policies on mobilization
◆ Every farmer had to contribute 8-10 working days/year in
dev. SHP in some counties. The work contributed could
be converted into inv. in kind in the form of shares.

39. 5. Policies on loan
◆ Low-interest loans from central and local gov.(10 years)
◆ Special finance, such as for “replacing firewood by elec.”
program.
6. Other preferential policies
◆ Reasonable allocation of water res. budget for SHP
projects that combine flood control, irrigation and water
conservation.
◆ Compensation for the headwater reservoir in cascade
dev.

40. Ⅴ. Barriers & Outlook
5.1 Internal flaws
☆ small scale, not competitive with large plants
◆ capital investment:
SHP vs. large one
8,000~10,000 vs. 5,000~7,000 Yuan/kW
◆ high seasonal variation
◆ Low firm power
◆ Low utilization hr: 2817 hrs (in 2011)

41. 5.2 External problems
☆ Difficulty of integration to the grid;
☆ Unfair treatment of off-take electricity quantity;
☆ Unreasonable selling price to the grid;
ave. selling price of SHP: 0.226-0.45 Yuan/kWh
20% lower than other power sources
☆ Constraints of public welfare character.

42. 5.3 Measures for overcoming the barriers
□ For internal factors, the flaws have to be improved by
SHP sector itself, including planning , design, construction,
O&M.
□ For external factors, attention has to be paid by decision-
making levels of the gov.

43. □ Environmental policies be coordinated during stipulation of
SHP policies to ensure the merging of SHP policy with
relevant sectors
□ Both planning and market are indispensible measures for
allocation of resources.
“Gov.-enabled and market-based approach” has to be
studied and worked out.

44. □ Strengthening compulsory administrative policies:
quota system and other relevant regulations
□ Environment factors be taken into consideration in
price determination mechanism, protection of market
price for SHP
□ Tax policy

45. □ Policy guidance for financing SHP
Multi-polarization, multiple-sources and multi-direction of
invest. in raising capital for SHP thro. opening up of the
market. (invest. from both society, foreign funds and private
enterprises)

46. 5.4 Outlook for SHP Development in China
◎ Targets by 2020:
○Total rural hydropower capacity: 75,000MW;
100% people electrified in rural hydropower supplied
area.
○ 10 million farmers’ household use electricity from
SHP to replace firewood, consumption of electricity per
household per year no less than 1500 kWh.

47. ○ Further improvement of technical standard system for
rural hydropower;
Primarily completion of renovation plan for rural
hydropower stations;
Non-attended (with a few guards stations) should exceed
90% of the whole.

48.  Small hydropower is the rural renewable energy with the
most mature technology, the longest development history,
and the most rewarding benefits.
 China’s SHP technology has its unique characteristics.
We would like to share our experience with other East
Asian countries, to promote the development of SHP.
Conclusion

49. Thank You！
Li Zhiwu
zwli@hrcshp.org