CTG Values Environmental Protection While Building Hydropower Project in Peru

China Three Gorges Corporation (CTG) is always concerning with environmental protection and fulfilling social responsibilities while building a hydropower project in Peru.

The company held an open house event at the San Gabán III Hydroelectric Power Plant on May 25 and showcased its efforts to protect the environment and promote local development during construction.

Before engineering, CTG staff members monitored the air, water and sound in surrounding areas and recorded 334 kinds of animals and 105 types of plants.

To protect local creatures from harm brought about by the construction, the company arranged professional people to drive the animals and remove the plants to other regions with professional equipment.

Special passages and cofferdams were also built to protect local fish.

In addition, planting was done on more than 9,000 square meters of land for environmental compensation, and key specimens like orchids were transferred to other natural habitats.

The company also invested $200,000 in transporting telegraph poles by helicopter, which avoided cutting down 20,000 sq m of forest.

Innovative technologies were also adopted to shorten the construction period, improve efficiency and protect the environment during construction.

What's more, the project has also driven economic growth in affected area.

For example, more than 70 percent of workers at the project were local residents and matters of accommodation, traffic, catering and renting of cars and heavy machinery were all taken care of in neighboring areas.

Improvement in local employees' income was one benefit of the project; another was that workers at the construction site worked with the local government to organize education and training courses for children in neighboring communities.

With a designed total installed capacity of 209 megawatts, the plant is scheduled to start internal generator unit adjustment and is expected to produce more than 1.25 billion kilowatt-hours annually upon completion.

The clean energy will be supplied to about 35,000 households in South Peru and equals an annual reduction of 338,000 tons of greenhouse gases.

A result of energy cooperation between China and Peru, the project is a part of the Belt and Road construction and a practice of ecological management.

It was approved as a project for the national interest by the Peruvian government, and will improve local communication and transport facilities and infrastructure, benefiting social and economic development in the region. 

(Executive editor: Hao Wen)