Renewable energy from hydropower in ChongqingThe project activity involves the construction of a hydroelectric power project at the main stream of Ren River near Bashan town of Chengkou County, Chongqing Municipality. The main objective of the project is to generate power from clean renewable hydro power and contribute to the sustainability of power generation of the Central China Grid, where coal-fired power generation is still the dominant power supply.
The hydropower station has a total installed capacity of 140 MW with two sets of individual 70 MW turbines. Its total reservoir area at full capacity is 5,720,000 square metres. The plant is a diversion type hydropower station which involves a 155 meters high rock-fill embankment dam with a concrete upper layer, including a water intake connected to a headrace tunnel of 2181.48 meters that lead the water into the power house downstream. The average water flow is 44 cubic metres per second. The project's annual net annual power supply to the grid is 448,920 MWh.
How hydropower contributes to climate actionHydropower plants use the energy of water to generate electricity. The energy is harnessed by passing water through a turbine. Under the pressure of the water, the turbine turns and transfers this energy to a generator, which converts kinetic energy into electricity. This principle applies to all types of hydroelectric power plants: from small run-of-river power plants to pumped-storage power plants on bodies of water like lakes. In many parts of the world, electricity is still primarily generated from fossil fuels. Clean hydropower can replace some of this emission-intensive energy and thus verifiably save carbon emissions. In most hydropower projects, the electricity is fed into a regional power grid, diversifying the energy supply and improving energy security in areas affected by power shortages and blackouts. Often, these projects also create jobs for the local population. Hydropower projects thus make an important contribution to clean energy supply as well as contributing to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Hydopower projects in the ClimatePartner portfolio are registered with international standards.
