China's Laxiwa 4,270 Megawatt Hydro Project Goes Ahead Despite Dry River Problems

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Researched by Indistrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). Despite the fact that water flow problems have been cropping up at regular intervals on China's Yellow River system the Laxiwa Hydropower project (PEC 88000498) has been given the construction approval by the country's State Council and cabinet and the National Development and Reform Commission.

Since last December, the lake, which is the source of the river, has been dried up as a result of drought and desertification in the western inland region. Since the 1970s, the river has been drying up before it reached the coast of China in the east.

The Sanmenxia hydropower station, which is sited downstream from the Laxiwa project, has created major silt build-ups causing floods along the Wei River a tributary of the Yellow River. This has caused a long running controversy with calls by hydro experts for the closure of the station. There has been no comment forthcoming from officials with the ministry of Water Resources and the Yellow River Commission on whether the Laxiwa project will exacerbate some of these problems. Silting problems, debates, and concern over the effect of hydro dams on the geology and ecology of surrounding regions have also figured parallel to the construction and commissioning of the massive (18,200MW) Three Gorges project (PEC 88000649) on the Yangtze River - the world's largest.

An estimated $120 million worth of the $1.75 billion, 4,270 MW project will have been completed by the end of this year and the first 700 MW unit of the six turbine generating installation is scheduled to be in operation in 2008. The China Power Investment Corporation, which is operating the project, reports that it will produce 10.223 billion kWh of electricity per annum when completed.

The Laxiwa project will be the largest hydropower project on the Yellow River and is located between the 1,280 MW Longyangxia and the 1,633 MW Lijiaxia hydropower stations. The three power stations are located on a 104-kilometer stretch of the river.

Power from the Yellow River and Qinghai province (PEC 88000497/99) is a component of China's West-East Power Transmission Project which was planned to transfer electricity from the resource rich western hinterland to the power hungry industrial east coast where demand and consumption have risen exponentially in the last two decades.