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Set up on Jinsha River, which is a tributary of the Yangtze River in southwest China, The Baihetan Hydroelectric Dam is the world’s second-largest. A milestone for China, the project extends over the Ningnan county in the Sichuan province and the Qiaojia county in the Yunnan province.
While the Chinese people celebrated the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the first two generating units were turned on by the Government of China officially, starting the much-awaited generation stream.
The dam has 16 generating units and is a double curvature arch dam. It is 289-meter-tall and each unit will have to generate a capacity of 1 million kilowatts, coming after the “Three Gorges Dam” with 22.5 million kilowatts of generating capacity on the Yangtze. China will succeed in curbing the steep rise in fossil fuel demand with this additional hydropower capacity. Three Gorges Group Corp., which is state-owned and is the world’s biggest investor in hydro, solar and wind generation, is behind putting together this mammoth project.
Up against difficult technical challenges, it broke many world records including the largest underground caverns, the largest anti-seismic parameters of a 300-meter high dam, and the largest spillway caverns and China became a world leader in sustainable energy.
Being developed by Jinsha River Chuanyun Hydropower Development Company, it is a joint venture between China Three Gorges (CTG) Corporation (70%), Sichuan Energy Investment Group (15%), and Yunnan Energy Investment Group (15%), Baihetan will be one of the first to use a 1,000MW hydro-turbine generator and is scheduled for commissioning in 2022.
Up against difficult technical challenges, it broke many world records including the largest underground caverns, the largest anti-seismic parameters of a 300-meter high dam, and the largest spillway caverns and China became a world leader in sustainable energy.
He Wei, Deputy Director of the Baihetan Hydropower Station Engineering and Construction Department said, “In Baihetan project, China faced technological isolation or rising price of supplies but went on to achieve total independent innovation absolutely on its own.