Current situation and prospect of hydropower industry

2. Abundant hydraulic resources and sufficient hydroelectric power generation

China is the world's largest hydropower producer, with abundant water resources and large-scale hydropower projects. China's hydropower sector plays a key role in meeting domestic electricity demand, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving the energy mix. Social electricity consumption is a key economic indicator, which reflects the level of electricity consumption in a country or region, and is of great significance for measuring economic activities, electricity supply and environmental impact. From the data released by the National Energy Administration, China's whole society electricity consumption shows a steady growth trend, as of the end of 2022, China's whole society electricity consumption of 8637.2 billion KWH, an increase of 324.4 billion KWH from 2021, an increase of 3.9%.

According to the data released by the China Electricity Council, the secondary industry consumes the most electricity in China, followed by the tertiary industry. The primary industry consumed 114.6 billion KWH of electricity, up 10.4 percent over the previous year. Among them, the electricity consumption of agriculture, fishery and animal husbandry increased by 6.3%, 12.6% and 16.3% respectively. The comprehensive promotion of the rural revitalization strategy and the significant improvement of rural electricity conditions in recent years and the continuous improvement of the level of electrification have driven the rapid growth of electricity consumption in the primary industry. The secondary industry consumed 5.70 trillion KWH of electricity, an increase of 1.2 percent over the previous year. Among them, the annual electricity consumption of high-tech and equipment manufacturing increased by 2.8%, and the annual electricity consumption of electrical machinery and equipment manufacturing, pharmaceutical manufacturing, computer communication and other electronic equipment manufacturing increased by more than 5%. The electricity consumption of new energy vehicles increased by 71.1%. The tertiary industry consumed 1.49 trillion KWH of electricity, an increase of 4.4% over the previous year. Fourth, domestic electricity consumption of urban and rural residents was 1.34 trillion KWH, an increase of 13.8 percent over the previous year.

China's hydropower projects are distributed throughout the country, including large hydropower stations, small hydropower stations and distributed hydropower projects. Famous hydropower projects include the Three Gorges hydropower Station, one of the largest hydropower stations in China and the world, located in the Three Gorges area on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. It has a huge power generation capacity to power industry and cities; Xiangjiaba Hydropower Station, located in Sichuan Province, is one of the largest hydropower stations in southwest China. It is located on the Jinsha River and provides electricity to the region; Sayimu Lake Hydropower Station, located in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, is one of the important hydropower projects in western China. It is located on the Sayram Lake and has a significant power supply function. According to the data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, China's hydropower generation has steadily increased year by year, and by the end of 2022, China's hydropower generation was 1,352.195 billion KWH, an increase of 0.99% over the previous year. As of August 2023, China's hydropower generation was 718.74 billion KWH, slightly reduced from the same period last year, a decrease of 0.16%, mainly due to the impact of climate, 2023 rainfall significantly reduced.

China has the world's largest installed hydropower capacity. China's hydropower capacity refers to the total capacity of electricity generated by hydroelectric power stations. Hydropower is a kind of clean energy that uses the kinetic energy of water flow to convert into electric energy. China is rich in water resources, so it has great potential and development space in hydropower. According to China's National Energy Administration, by the end of 2022, China's total installed hydropower capacity exceeded 40 gigawatts, accounting for about one-third of the world's total installed hydropower capacity. In recent years, the cumulative installed capacity of hydropower in China has increased year by year, as of the first half of 2023, the cumulative installed capacity of hydropower in China is 418 million kilowatts, 5.36 million kilowatts more than the end of 2022.

China's water investment refers to the investment made by the Chinese government and relevant departments for the purpose of improving water resources management, flood control and drought relief, irrigation, hydropower generation and ecological environmental protection. Water investment is of great significance to China's economic development, agricultural production, environmental protection and energy supply. In 2022, China completed 1,089.3 billion yuan of investment in water conservancy construction, an increase of 44% over 2021, and the largest amount of investment in water conservancy construction since the founding of the People's Republic of China, making important contributions to stabilizing the macroeconomic market and promoting economic recovery.