SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

SCHEDULE 13D

Under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934

(Amendment No. 4)*

China Hydroelectric Corporation

(Name of Issuer)

Ordinary Shares, $0.001 par value per share**

American Depositary Shares

(Title of Class of Securities)

16949D101***

(CUSIP Number)

NewQuest Asia Fund I (G.P.) Ltd.

c/o Intertrust Corporate Services (Cayman) Limited

190 Elgin Avenue, George Town

Grand Cayman KY1-9005

Cayman Islands

(Name, Address and Telephone Number of Person Authorized to Receive Notices and Communications)

September 24, 2013

(Date of Event which Requires Filing of this Statement)

If the filing person has previously filed a statement on Schedule 13G to report the acquisition that is the subject of this Schedule 13D, and is filing this schedule because of §§240.13d-1(e), 240.13d-1(f) or 240.13d-1(g), check the following box.  ¨

Note: Schedules filed in paper format shall include a signed original and five copies of the schedule, including all exhibits. See §240.13d-7 for other parties to whom copies are to be sent.

The information required on the remainder of this cover page shall not be deemed to be “filed” for the purpose of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Act”) or otherwise subject to the liabilities of that section of the Act but shall be subject to all other provisions of the Act (however, see the Notes).

This Amendment No. 4 (this “Amendment”) is filed to amend and supplement the Schedule 13D relating to the ordinary shares, par value $0.001 per share (“Ordinary Shares”) and American Depositary Shares, each representing three Ordinary Shares (“ADSs”), of China Hydroelectric Corporation (the “Company”), filed by the Reporting Persons named therein with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on December 5, 2012, as amended by Amendment No. 1 filed with the SEC on July 3, 2013, Amendment No. 2 filed with the SEC on July 31, 2013, and Amendment No. 3 filed with the SEC on September 4, 2013 (as amended, the “Schedule 13D”). Except as specifically amended by this Amendment, the Schedule 13D remains in full force and effect. All capitalized terms contained herein but not otherwise defined shall have the meanings ascribed to such terms in the Schedule 13D.

Item 3. Source and Amount of Funds or Other Consideration.

Item 3 of the Schedule 13D is hereby supplemented as follows:

On September 24, 2013, CPI exercised the Amended Option and purchased 6,959,893 Ordinary Shares from Vicis for an aggregate purchase price of $5,219,919.75 (or $0.75 per Ordinary Share) pursuant to an exercise of option letter agreement, dated September 24, 2013 (the “Option Exercise Letter Agreement”), between CPI and Vicis. The source of funds for this transaction was NewQuest’s working capital.

Item 5. Interest in Securities of the Issuer.

Item 5 of the Schedule 13D is hereby amended and restated in its entirety as follows:

(a) CPI may be deemed to beneficially own an aggregate of 97,741,619 Ordinary Shares, or approximately 56.8% of the Ordinary Shares deemed outstanding, which consists of (i) 87,737,462 Ordinary Shares directly beneficially owned by CPI (which include 10,114,506 Ordinary Shares represented by 3,371,502 ADSs and 77,622,956 Ordinary Shares), or approximately 51.0% of the Ordinary Shares deemed outstanding, and (ii) 10,004,157 Ordinary Shares, or approximately 5.8% of the Ordinary Shares deemed outstanding, that CPI may be deemed to beneficially own under Rule 13d-3 pursuant to the terms of the Warrant. NewQuest, its sole general partner, NewQuest GP, and NewQuest Management, an investment manager of NewQuest GP, may be deemed to beneficially own all of the Ordinary Shares (including Ordinary Shares represented by ADSs) beneficially owned by CPI. The foregoing calculations of percentage ownership are based on 172,103,822 Ordinary Shares deemed to be outstanding for purposes of this Amendment, which consist of 162,099,665 Ordinary Shares issued and outstanding as represented by the Company in its Report on Form 6-K filed on August 15, 2013, and an additional 10,004,157 Ordinary Shares that may be issued by the Company to CPI upon exercise of the Warrant in full.

Except as set forth in this Item 5(a), neither the Reporting Persons nor, to the best knowledge of the Reporting Persons, any of the Listed Persons beneficially owns any Ordinary Shares or ADSs.

The Reporting Persons declare that neither the filing of this Statement nor anything herein shall be construed as an admission that such person is, for the purposes of Section 13(d) of the Exchange Act or any other purpose, (i) acting (or has agreed or is agreeing to act together with any other person) as a partnership, limited partnership, syndicate, or other group for the purpose of acquiring, holding or disposing of securities of the Company or otherwise with respect to the Company or any securities of the Company or (ii) a member of any group with respect to the Company or any securities of the Company.

(b) Number of shares as to which each Reporting Person has:

See Item 7 on the cover page(s) hereto.

See Item 8 on the cover page(s) hereto.

See Item 9 on the cover page(s) hereto.

See Item 10 on the cover page(s) hereto.

(c) The information set forth, or incorporated by reference, in Item 3 of Amendment No.1, Amendment No. 2, Amendment No. 3 and this Amendment is hereby incorporated by reference.

(d) No other person is known by the Reporting Persons to have the right to receive or the power to direct the receipt of dividends from, or the proceeds from the sale of, Ordinary Shares that may be deemed to be beneficially owned by the Reporting Persons.

(e) Not applicable.

Item 6. Contracts, Arrangements, Understandings or Relationships with Respect to Securities of the Issuer.

Item 6 of the Schedule 13D is hereby supplemented as follows:

As disclosed in Item 3 of this Amendment, CPI has exercised the Amended Option and purchased 6,959,893 Ordinary Shares from Vicis pursuant to the Option Agreement (as amended by the Letter Agreement) and the Option Exercise Letter Agreement, which provides for CPI’s notice of exercise of the Amended Option and the parties’ mutual release of claims relating to the transactions contemplated by the Purchase Agreement, the Option (as provided under the Option Agreement), the Amended Option (as provided under the Letter Agreement), and the Warrant.

The descriptions of the Purchase Agreement, the Option Agreement, the Letter Agreement and the Option Exercise Letter Agreement set forth in this Amendment are not intended to be complete and are qualified in their entirety by reference to the full text of the Purchase Agreement, a copy of which was attached as Exhibit 99.1 to Amendment No. 1, the Option Agreement, a copy of which was attached as Exhibit 99.2 to Amendment No. 1, the Letter Agreement, a copy of which was attached as Exhibit 99.1 to Amendment No. 2, and the Option Exercise Letter Agreement, a copy of which is attached hereto as Exhibit 99.1, all of which are incorporated herein by reference.

The information set forth, or incorporated by reference, in Items 3 and 5 of this Amendment is hereby incorporated by reference in this Item 6.

Item 7. Material to be Filed as Exhibits.

The following agreements are filed as exhibits hereto:

SIGNATURE

After reasonable inquiry and to the best of my knowledge and belief, I certify that the information set forth in this statement is true, complete and correct.

Exhibit 99.1

September 24, 2013

Vicis Capital Master Fund

445 Park Avenue,

Suite 1043

New York, NY 10022

Attn: Manager

RE: Exercise of Option dated July 3, 2013 by and between Vicis Capital Master Fund and CPI Ballpark Investments Ltd, and subsequently amended on July 31, 2013

Dear Sirs:

Reference is made to that certain Option Agreement (the “Option”), dated July 3, 2013, by and between Vicis Capital Master Fund (“Vicis”) and CPI Ballpark Investments Ltd (“CPI”), which was subsequently amended on July 31, 2013 by letter agreement between Vicis and CPI (“Amended Option”). Capitalized terms not herein defined shall have the meaning as set forth in the Option.

By this Letter Agreement, CPI serves its Exercise Notice on Vicis with respect to the acquisition of, and hereby elects to exercise the Amended Option to acquire 6,959,893 ordinary shares of China Hydroelectric Corporation for the total exercise price of $5,219,919.75 as set forth in the Amended Option. Vicis shall execute and deliver at the Closing all documents, instruments and approvals, including, without limitation, instruments of transfer, necessary to evidence and effectuate the transfer of all Exercised Shares to CPI. As of the date of Closing, each of Vicis and CPI makes the representations and warranties set forth in Article III and Article IV, respectively, of that certain Agreement of Purchase and Sale, dated as of July 3, 2013, by and between CPI and Vicis, with respect to the transactions contemplated by this Letter Agreement, mutatis mutandis. The Parties further agree to forever fully release, discharge and hold harmless each other Party (and each of its respective officers, directors, partners, shareholders, employees, agents and affiliates, solely in their capacities as such), in each case from and against any and all known or unknown, present or future, fixed or contingent claims of any nature whatsoever arising out of actions, events or omissions occurring on or prior to the date of this Letter Agreement and which relate to the transactions set out in the Agreement of Purchase and Sale dated July 3, 2013, the Option, the Amended Option and Warrant (and specifically excluding for the sake of clarity any obligations of the parties arising out of this Letter Agreement).

This Letter Agreement shall be governed exclusively by its terms and by the laws of the State of New York, and may be executed in counterparts.

[Signature page to follow]

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Sincerely,

CPI Ballpark Investments Ltd

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