Geographies of (small) hydropower development in selected transnational basins of China (Yunnan and Xinjiang). A comparative analysis of the Water-Energy-Environment Nexus.

自新千年以来，全球水电产量的增长速度超过了以往任何可比时期，中国已成为世界上最大的水电生产国。中国西南部的云南省在这方面扮演着至关重要的角色；它本身已经成为世界上最大的水力发电（HP）生产国之一。自2000年以来，其HP容量从2.5GW增加到2016年的59GW，超过了南亚的全部HP装机容量。云南在三条主要河流（湄公河、长江、怒江）上现有和拟建的大型项目都进行了充分的研究。相比之下，云南的其他近千座水坝/水电项目（≥1MW）几乎是未知的（2016年：22.4GW）。缺乏可靠的HP数据严重影响了我们对云南跨国盆地的理解，例如HP的环境影响、社会经济和地缘政治后果。在之前的DFG项目中，我研究了跨国伊洛瓦底和怒江盆地云南段的整个HP开发情况。虽然这些河流的主河道是亚洲最后几条未建水坝的河流，但这些河流流域支流的HP发展非常显著，但几乎不为人知。我确定了370多个HP项目。此外，基于powershed方法，我从水-能源-环境关系的角度研究了（小）HP发展的不同地理区域。基于这一背景，我计划对云南所有五个跨国盆地进行比较分析，这是世界上对HP研究不够充分的地区之一。对于这些流域，我计划研究云南快速发展的高生产力与联系的关键方面之间的各种权衡和相互作用。该项目还将扩展和验证导致过度开发的小型HP轨迹和因素的类型。为了实现这一目标，我设想了三个子目标：(I)对HP实施模式进行比较分析，包括记录和地理可视化YN跨国盆地HP发展的完整数据库；（ii）研究水能关系部分复杂的时空权衡（包括其多样化的生产-消费-进口/出口模式）；（三）分析和量化关系中水环境部分的各个方面。这包括调查和评价级联高压发展的直接累积生物物理后果（例如鱼类取样、toc分析），以及分析高压对能源密集型工业的间接环境影响。在一个单独的模块中，我想把我的方法应用到新疆的三个跨国盆地。西北省份是中国发电量增长最快的省份，但其地理格局却与众不同。我想了解云南和新疆高速发展的异同和联系互动。此外，该项目旨在改善整个大青藏高原的HP数据收集和地理可视化。

Since the new millennium, global production of hydroelectricity has been increasing faster than in all comparable periods before and China has become its world’s largest producer. China’s southwestern province of Yunnan plays here a crucial role; it has become itself one of the world’s largest hydropower (HP) producers. Since 2000, its HP capacity rose from 2.5GW to 59GW in 2016, which is larger than the entire installed HP capacity of South Asia. Yunnan’s current and proposed mega projects on its three major rivers (Mekong, Yangtze, Nu) are well researched. In contrast, almost thousand other dams/HP projects (≥1MW) of Yunnan are almost unknown (in 2016: 22.4GW). This lack of reliable HP data has serious implications for our understanding of Yunnan’s transnational basins, e.g. in terms of HP’s environmental implications, socio-economic and geopolitical consequences.In a previous DFG project I studied the entire HP development in Yunnan’s sections of the transnational Ayeyarwady and Nu basins. While the main stems of these rivers are among Asia’s last undammed rivers, the HP development on tributaries across their basins were significant but almost unknown. I identified more than 370 HP projects. Further, based on the powershed approach, I studied diverse geographies of (small) HP development in the perspective of the water-energy-environment nexus Based on this setting I plan a comparative analysis for all of Yunnan’s five transnational basins, one of the world’s insufficiently scrutinized HP regions. For those basins I plan to examine the diverse trade-offs and interactions between Yunnan’s fast-paced HP development and selected crucial aspects of the nexus. The project will also expand and verify a typology of small HP trajectories and factors that lead to over-development. To pursue this objective I envision three sub-goals: (i) a comparative analysis of HP implementation patterns, incl. to record and geovisualize a complete database of HP development of YN’s transnational basins; (ii) to examine the complex spatio-temporal trade-offs of the water-energy part of the nexus (incl. its diverse generation-consumption-imp/exp paradigms); and (iii) to analyze and quantify aspects of the water-environment part of the nexus. This includes both survey and evaluation of direct cumulative biophysical consequences of cascaded HP development (e.g. fish-samplings, TOC-analysis) and an analysis of SHP’s indirect environmental implications related to energy-intensive industries.In a separate module I want to apply my approach to Xinjiang’s three transnational basins. The northwestern province is China’s fastest growing province in terms of electricity generation, but has a distinguished geographical pattern. I want to understand similarities and differences between Yunnan’s and Xinjiang’s rapid HP development and the nexus interactions. Further, the project aims to improve HP data collection and geovisualization for the entire Greater Tibetan Plateau.