Chinese small hydropower tech helps alleviate poverty in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD (PEN) : “China-Pakistan Belt and Road Joint Laboratory on Small Hydropower Technology: Collaborative Efforts to Alleviate Poverty in Pakistan” by Ministry of Water Resources of China and National Research Institute for Rural Electrification of the Ministry of Water Resources of China recently won the Best Poverty Reduction Practice Award at the 2024 International Seminar on Global Poverty Reduction Partnerships in Beijing.
Though boasting an abundance of hydropower resources, Pakistan is still facing issues such as power shortage and unstable grids because of lack of advanced technology for resource development and equipment manufacture.
Inaugurated in 2015, China-Pakistan Belt and Road Joint Laboratory on Small Hydropower Technology has been easing local power shortage in Pakistan to improve people’s livelihood and drive rural economic development through joint research, technology demonstration, application promotion and talent cultivation, achieving progress towards economic, social, and environmental sustainability.
Up till now, the lab has provided assessment technologies for Pakistan’s hydropower resources, top-level design methods for regional power systems and development plans for hydropower resources in typical rivers of Punjab, completed the proposal for Pakistan’s small hydropower standard system and structural framework, and developed intelligent small hydropower control equipment, China Economic Net reported on Friday.
Furthermore, demonstration sites for off-grid multi-energy complementary power generation and database for small hydropower and rural electrification in South Asia have been established.
Additionally, seven Pakistani scientists have come to China to undertake research and thirty South Asian technicians of small hydropower and rural electrification have been trained in the lab.