Hydropower
The main energy of Yunnan is hydropower. With many rivers and lakes and abundant rainfull, Yunnan has a very rich water power resource. In normal years, the total amount of water resources in Yunnan is about 222.2 billion cubic meters, accounting for 8.4% of the total in China. The province’s theoretical hydropower reserve reaches 103.64 million kilowatts, making up 15.3% of the total volume in China and ranking second in this country. Topographically, Yunnan inclines downward from northwest to southeast for establishing large hydropower plants. Comparatively speaking, the construction work is relatively easy, the flooded area canbe reduced to the minimum, and technological or economic indexes are encouraging. According to the survey, most hydropower in Yunnan is produced by the water systems of the Jinsha, Lancang and Nujiang rivers. Among the three water systems, the Jinsha River has the largest hydro—reserve, making up 38.9% of the total amount in Yunnan. In the past ten years, the Lubuge Hydropower Station(installed capacity 1.25 million kilowatts) have gone into operation successively and the Dachaoshan Station( installed capacity 1.35 million kilowatts) is under construction. Thirty—two hydropower sation are planned to be constructed along the Jinsha, Lancang and Nujiang rivers and the installed capacity will reach 77 million kilowatts.
Geothermal Energy
Yunnan is rich in geothermal resources. There are more than 700 hot springs and almost every town has one. Every year these springs discharge about 360 million cubic meters of hot water, second only to Tibet. Among them, Eryuan Town is known as “the City of Hot Water” and Kunming City, “the Hot Spring City”; the most famous place is Tengchong Town, which is called “the Hometown of Geothermal Energy”. Twenty meters below the surface, the temperature reaches 145℃
Coal
Yunnan has a variety of coal resources. 17.7 billion tons of coal reserves have been found in Yunnan, including anthracite, bituminous and lignite. Coal reserves in Yunnan rank 9th in China and 2nd among the 13 southern provinces. The reserve of lignite comes first in China. I addition, Yunnan has abundant solar energy because of its plateau climate. |
