Three Gorges Project officials have denied there is the
possibility of power generation in the Three Gorges Area being
affected by prolonged drought in the upper reaches of the Yangtze
River.
"Looking back at historical records from the past 130 years,
there have never been two successive years when a serious drop in
the amount of water flowing into the mainstream of the Yangtze has
occurred," Yuan said.
"The Yangtze was at its lowest level last year since records
began in 1877," said Yuan, "but I believe it is unlikely there will
be a significant drop in the inflow of water into the Three Gorges
Reservoir from the upper reaches this year.
"Therefore, power generation in the Three Gorges Area will not
be affected," he said.
Observers, however, expressed concern that Yuan fails to take
consideration of the issue of climate change.
The Ministry of Water Resources Wang Shucheng said earlier this
month that extreme and abnormal climatic phenomena like drought and
floods have occurred more frequently due to global warming in
recent years.
More than 2.62 million people in southwest China's Sichuan
Province and Chongqing Municipality on the upstream of the Three
Gorges have been suffering from drinking water shortages since late
February.
Cao Guangjing, deputy general manager of China Three Gorges
Project Corp., said the Three Gorges Reservoir had gained a storage
capacity of 11 billion cubic meters of water after the water level
retained in the reservoir was raised to 156 meters last
October.
"With the reservoir's newly gained storage capacity, we can
regulate the use of water needed for power generation in an
efficient way and make sure that electricity is produced evenly,"
said Cao.
Cao's comments appear to contradict those of Yuan Jie early in
February when the Three Gorges Project Corporation told Xinhua that
the water level in the reservoir was being lowered to feed the
drought-ravaged river.
"The water level in the reservoir will fall by four meters from
the current 155 meters," he said.
Three or four additional power generation units will help to
boost electricity generation in the latter half of the year, which
will serve as a powerful guarantee of fulfilling this year's power
production goal, said Cao.
"I am sure that even if there was a drop of 10 percent to 15
percent in the amount of water flowing into the mainstream of the
Yangtze this year compared with an average year, we can still meet
the power production target set for the Three Gorges Area," said
the deputy general manager.
China Three Gorges Project Corp. signed a contract with the
State Grid Corp. of China (SGCC) last December to sell 370 billion
kilowatt-hours (kwh) of electricity in the forthcoming five
years.
In accordance with the power generation plan, the Three Gorges
Project, where 14 generating units are in operation, and the
Gezhouba project with 21 generating units, will produce 78.6
billion kilowatt-hours of electricity this year, according to Cao
Guangjing, deputy general manager of China Three Gorges Project
Corp.
The Three Gorges Project alone had generated more than 150
billion kilowatt-hours of electricity by mid-March this year since
July 10, 2003, when the project began power generation, and has
chalked up 38 billion yuan (about US$4.75 billion) in revenue.
(Xinhua News Agency March 22, 2007)