People's Daily, one of the most influential media outlets in China, recently published a story entitled "Joint Efforts on Pursuing Green Development" to showcase China's continuous efforts to help the green development of countries and regions involved in the Belt and Road Initiative.

The story highlights the Cambodian Tatay Hydropower Station, a China-Cambodia cooperative project undertaken by Sinomach subsidiary China National Heavy Machinery Corporation (CHMC). It hails the company's landmark contributions to the high-quality green development of the Belt and Road Initiative.

China is ready to make a greater contribution to the global response to climate change. As such, the country is taking concrete steps to foster green, low-carbon, high-quality development as it embarks on a path toward carbon peaking and neutrality.

By the end of 2021, China's installed renewable power-generating capacity had reached 1.06 billion kilowatts, accounting for 44.8 percent of its total installed power-generating capacity. China has led the world in the sectors of hydroelectricity, wind electricity, solar power and nuclear power. Meanwhile, it is committed to leveraging its resources and strengths to help BRI participants build their clean-energy industries and add momentum to local green development.

The Cambodian Tatay Hydropower Station is one of those clean-energy projects. It was built on the fast-flowing Tatay River in Koh Kong, Cambodia. The station started operations in 2014, and had generated seven billion kilowatt-hours of electricity as of October 2021.

"The Tatay Hydropower Station has played a big part in ensuring electrical safety and dampening electricity price pressure. It greatly helps boost socio-economic development, and especially poverty reduction," said Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.

By the end of 2020, Chinese enterprises had completed 10 hydro-electric stations in Cambodia, accounting for nearly 45 percent of the country's total installed capacity. Chinese-funded hydropower stations not only alleviate the energy shortage in the country, but also contribute to local energy conservation and emission reduction, according to Zhao Wensheng, deputy general manager of Cambodian Tatay Hydropower Limited, a local affiliate set up to maintain operations of the station.

Wu Guoquan, economic and commercial counselor of the Chinese embassy to Cambodia, noted that Chinese enterprises have delivered green energy to thousands of households in Cambodia, and nourished the towering tree of friendship and cooperation between the two countries.

Inefficient power delivery used to be a weakness of Cambodia's power system, and Chinese builders tailored targeted solutions. For example, CHMC has undertaken 13 power transformer projects and 34 substations in Cambodia, and the resulting line network now occupies more than half of the total length of Cambodia's national power grid.

The Stung Treng Hydropower Station, one of thoe projects, built Cambodia's first 500-kilovolt power transformer lines, which stretches to the border with Laos and has paved the way for electricity interconnection between Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam.

What's more, two villages in Cambodia's Stung Treng Province electrified in 2016 were beneficiaries of a rural power grid renovation and expansion project. The village head said that after Chinese builders renovated and expanded the power grid in the village, the power supply has always been stable even on days of wind and rain, bringing easier life to local people.

(Source: People's Daily/Translated and edited by Sinomach)