Mr. Tian Zhongxing
Director General, Rural Hydropower & Ellectrification Bureau
Ministry of Water Resources, P.R.China
Chairman, INSHP CC

(Partial speech may 2009)

....The distribution of small hydropower (SHP) resources is basically consistent with the location of the poor population, mainly the middle and west region and minority region where the technically developable SHP potential takes up 82% of the whole resources, and the present development rate of SHP in those areas is only 32%. [The] Renewable Energy Law of P.R. China rates water energy as the prior development. Medium and Long term development planning of renewable energy put forward by State Council in 2007 instructed to accelerate the development of SHP resources and link with the project of rural hydropower electrification and the project of substituting SHP for fuel in those areas the water energy resources are abundant. Up to 2020 it is planned that the installed capacity of SHP will arrive at 75GW. According to the planning, Chinese Government will aim at raising the rural electrification level to enrich farmers, and persistently advancing rural hydropower electrification construction, addressing power shortage in the region with water energy resources, fully implementing the project of substituting SHP for fuel to basically meet the living fuel demand of 10 million households of farmers in the areas of transforming farmland into woodland and the natural forest protection areas, natural reserve as well as keystone water and soil conservation areas.

What can we learn?