Severe heatwaves will have limited effect on China’s hydropower

The heatwaves are concentrated in regions less reliant on hydropower.

The severe heatwaves in China will have “limited” effects on the country’s overall hydropower sector as the weather condition is localised in the Northern regions which use less hydropower than the southern regions.

In a report, BMI Country Risks & Industry Analysis noted that Mainland China extended the ‘red alert’ to most parts of Beijing and the provinces of Heibei, Shandon, Henan, and Inner Mongolia.

Hydropower only accounts for about 4% of the capacity mixes in the affected areas, with Beijing as the highest at 7%, and Shandong as the lowest at 2%.

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These provinces also have a total hydropower capacity of 13.7 gigawatts (GW) as of May 2023, or around 3% of China’s 413.5 GW capacity.

“Hydropower is not the dominant power type in the regions that are most affected by the heatwave this year. As such, we believe that the implications for their power supply and the national power mix will be limited,” the report read.

“ Therefore, we expect the heatwaves and potential low water levels to present little risk of hindering the electricity supply in the Northern regions and the overall power supply of the market,” it added.

Project developments in the power sector will remain unhindered by the heatwaves, it said.