Sustainability in hydropower development—A case study

Hydropower development has significant impacts on the society and community economically, environmentally and socially. These impacts may go beyond the regional level, even across the nation. As one of the largest scale hydropower developments in the world, the Three Gorges Project has attracted attentions right from the conception stage. This paper adopted a case study approach to investigate the sustainable development practice in the Three Gorges Project. The case study shows that under the guidance of the State Council, the China Three Gorges Corporation has devoted to manage environmental, economic and social sustainability issues of the Three Gorges Project across various project stages (e.g. conception, design, construction and operation). The sustainability practice adopted in the Three Gorges Project generally follows the Hydropower Sustainability Assessment Protocol developed by the International Hydropower Association. As a result, the environmental auditing is satisfactory to the national standards and the project has achieved numerous social and economic benefits. However, resettlement, coordinated development and ecological impacts on the local ecosystem present significant challenges to future hydropower developments. This study highlighted a number of factors contributing towards better sustainability performance of hydropower developments in China, e.g. international collaboration, system approach, ongoing monitoring and strategic human resource management. The experiences gained from the Three Gorges Project have been applied into other hydropower developments in China. This study provides a useful reference to the sustainable energy development practice over the world.