From tibetsupport@gn.apc.org Tue Nov 5 04:22:20 1996 Received: from gn.apc.org (gn.apc.org [194.202.158.2]) by lox.sandelman.ocunix.on.ca (8.7.5/8.7.3) with SMTP id EAA16788 for ; Tue, 5 Nov 1996 04:22:09 -0500 (EST) Received: by gn.apc.org (8.6.12/Revision: 1.33 22 August 1996) id JAA22488; Tue, 5 Nov 1996 09:17:46 GMT Date: Tue, 5 Nov 1996 09:17:46 GMT From: Free Tibet Campaign Message-Id: <199611050917.JAA22488@gn.apc.org> To: adavis@nextcity.com, dianne@gateway.sandelman.ocunix.on.ca, patrickirn@igc.apc.org Subject: China Hydro News Status: OR Thought you guys may be interested in these snippets from World Tibet News (WTN). 11.4.96. Regards Lorne. ------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------ 2. US Power Company Wants to Invest in Nepal for ... (Xinhua) ------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------ (Xinhua is the Official Press Agency of the People's Republic of China) KATHMANDU (Nov. 4) XINHUA - The American power company Enron Corp. is considering to invest in Nepal's hydro power sector and export electricity to China, Nepal's northern neighbor, senior officials here said today. Such a move would be a breakthrough for the development of the abundant water resources in Nepal which so far had seen its southern neighbor India as the only market for its surplus hydro power, they said. Enron Corp. last month put forth a 9-billion-US dollar proposal to the Nepali government outlining its intention to invest two major hydro power projects in the country on build-own-operate-transfer (BOTT) basis, the officials was quoted by a local newspaper as saying today. The American power conglomerate expects to spend 800 million dollars of that amount on the 402-megawatt Arun project in eastern Nepal with the rest going to West Nepal's Karnali project with a generating capacity between 3,000 to 4,000 megawatts, according to the paper. Officials said that an expert committee of the Water Resources Ministry is studying the proposal of the American company. The company plans to sling high-voltage transmission lines across the Himalayas and link up with the nearest power grid in Chengdu of Southwest China's Sichuan province, about 2,500 km away from Nepal, a Nepali expert said. Of the over 8 billion dollars earmarked for the Karnali project, Enron plans to spend two billion dollars to build the transmission lines to China, he said. However, private water resources experts here have questioned the economic feasibility of the Enron proposal, citing the difficulties of slinging power lines across the Himalayas, the far distance between Nepal and inland China and the rapid power sector development in China. Enditem 11040611 04/11/96 06:13 GMT ------------------------------------------------------------ ----------------- 7. Siemens Aims to Share China's Power Plant Market (Xinhua) ------------------------------------------------------------ ----------------- (Xinhua is the Official Press Agency of the People's Republic of China) BEIJING (Oct. 31) XINHUA - Germany's Siemens AG has launched a drive to win a large slice of a major expansion program in China's power generating industry. Experts have predicted that China will only be able to meet 80 per cent of its equipment needs from domestic sources, paving the way for the other 20 percent to come from overseas companies. Siemens, already well established in China, has announced it aims to win 20 percent of the market for the supply of generating equipment for power plants in China from overseas companies. The move will help Siemens' Power Generation Group (KWU), to win one billion Deutsche Marks in sales in China by the turn of the century. Dietrich Stahl, vice president of Siemens China, gave details about Siemens/KWU's great interest in developing China's power market at a news conference in Beijing. Shortage of power supplies has restricted economic development for many countries in Asia, while rapid economic growth in China has led to high demand for power. This also indicates that China has a great potential for power development, noted Stahl. China's total installed capacity is expected to rise from the current 200 GW to 300 GW by the year 2000, with an annual increase during the 1996-2000 period of up to 18,000 megawatts. And a majority of the capacity growth will be met by domestic equipment, leaving 15 percent to 20 percent of the country's power plant equipment market for overseas suppliers. With extensive coal reserves, China will give priority to the construction of coal-fueled power plants, encouraging Siemens/KWU to increase investments in steam power plants. So far, Siemens/KWU has been involved in the construction of China's five coal-fueled power plants, providing a total capacity of 5,000 megawatts of generating units. Among them, the Rizhao Power Plant in east China's Shandong Province and Hangfeng Power Plant in north China's Hebei Province are being constructed by means of BOT, according to Stahl. Along with environment protection measures, and further utilization of natural gas and oil, China will have a growing equipment market for its increasing gas turbine and combined-cycle power plants, which are primarily located in southern regions in China. Siemens/KWU will help expand Guangzhou Pumped-Storage Power Plant, China's largest of its kind, in south Guangdong Province, making it one of the largest in the world, he said. In addition, Siemens/KWU will invest 100 million US dollars to join Dongfang Electric Corporation in Southwest China's Sichuan Province in the setting up of joint ventures, to construct power plants and make turbines and generators, according to Stahl. It will also help upgrade 15 turbogenerators in the 200 megawatt class at various power plants in northeast China, the press conference was told. Enditem 31/10/96 13:11 GMT