POWER January 2011 - 11

a middle riparian, " as Indian Minister of State for Environment,
JaiRam Ramesh said last May. This charge isn't the
first: Earlier in 2010, Chinese dams were blamed for channeling
water away from the upper reaches of the Mekong River,
contributing to record low levels of that waterway.
China has denied these allegations. Foreign Ministry
Spokesman Hong Lei told Agence France-Presse in November
that China " has always had a responsible attitude and places
equal emphasis on development and protection. " He added
that China took " full consideration of the potential impact
on the downstream area. " The idea had been considered, former
Water Minister Wang Shucheng admitted to attendees at
a water resources seminar in May 2009, but the proposal to
divert 200 billion cubic meters annually from the Tsangpo to
the Yellow River was thought to be environmentally unsafe:
Such volumes would damage dams and embankments along
the latter river, he said.
China is facing critical water shortages. According to experts,
the country's water supply will fall 11 billion cubic
meters short of demand per year by 2030, despite increased
supply capacity. According to the World Bank, mainland China
has only a per-capita share of 2,700 cubic meters per year-
just a quarter of the world's average. Construction of a project
that involves drawing water from southern rivers and supplying
it to the drought-prone north is already under way.
The largest project of its kind ever, it has already taken 50
years from conception to commencement and is planned for
completion in 2050. When completed, it will divert 44.8 billion
cubic meters of water annually.
China is also facing debilitating power shortages (for more
details, see " China: A World Powerhouse " in POWER's July
2010 issue), most caused by soaring coal prices and transportation
issues. In November, for example, power shortages in
northern China's Shanxi province-the largest coal-producing
province after Inner Mongolia-resulted in a power deficit of
as much as 6 GW, a stunning 25% of total demand, reported
State Grid News.
But China also is faced with pressure to meet a Copenhagen
pledge to generate 15% of its power from nonfossil sources
by 2020, and its planned massive nuclear power capacity additions
will not suffice. To close the gap, Zhang Guobao, director
of the National Energy Administration, has outlined
plans for a colossal hydropower growth spurt. Already the
world's leader with more than 200 GW of installed hydropower
capacity, the country will now look to put 330 GW online by
2020-an increase of 123 GW over the next 10 years.
The country is fast-tracking projects and recently approved
construction of the 2.6-GW Changheba and 2.4-GW Guan'di
projects, both in Sichuan province. Those approvals followed
green lights for early-stage studies for the 8.7-GW Wudongde
and 14-GW Baihetan hydropower projects. Several more are in
the pipeline, including four-besides the Zangmu Hydropower
Station, whose construction is under way-to harness hydropower
from the upper reaches of the Tsangpo.
MHI Prepares to Test J-Series in Japan
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) has begun converting a
combined-cycle plant in Japan to prepare for verification
testing of its long-anticipated J-Series gas turbine in February
2011-a system that the company claims has the most
power generation capacity and highest thermal efficiency in
the 1,600C turbine inlet temperature class (Figure 3). The
work being carried out at the Takasago Machinery Works facil10
4.
A 35-MW to 40-MW sweet spot. Siemens Energy released
a 37-MW industrial gas turbine this November, saying that
the machine is designed to be employed in simple-cycle and combined-cycle
power plants for baseload, standby, and peak-shaving
applications. The company foresees a " marked increase in demand
for turbines with ratings of between 35 MW and 40 MW through
2020. Courtesy: Siemens Energy
3. Cramming it in for a test. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
(MHI), a company that completed development of its long-anticipated
J-Series turbine last year, says it has begun installation of the 1,600Cclass
turbine for verification testing at a combined-cycle plant at its
Takasago Machinery Works facility in Hyogo Prefecture. The 60-hertz
J-Series reportedly achieved a rated power output of 320 MW and an
" unprecedented " 460 MW in gas turbine combined-cycle power generation
applications. Courtesy: MHI
ity in Hyogo Prefecture (where the company's G-Series gas
turbines were tested) includes installation of the J-Series
turbine, and it marks another major milestone in the technology's
development.
The company finished developing the turbine last year,
www.powermag.com
and it says it has since been focusing efforts on its commercialization.
According to MHI, the turbine is able to
withstand temperatures of more than 100 degrees-more
than the top-of-the-line 1,500C-class G-Series turbine. The
60-hertz J-Series gas turbine also reportedly achieves a rated
power output of 320 MW and an " unprecedented " 460 MW in
POWER | January 2011
http://www.powermag.com
POWER January 2011

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