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16 GW Baihetan hydropower station in China fully operational

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16 GW Baihetan hydropower station in China fully operational

The 16 GW Baihetan hydropower station, now the second largest hydro project in the world in terms of total installed capacity, went fully operational Dec. 20.

The last of Baihetan’s 16 hydro-generating units completed a 72-hour trial operation Dec. 20.

The Baihetan hydropower station straddles the provinces of Yunnan and Sichuan in southwest China and is located on the Jinsha River in the upper section of the Yangtze River. It is owned and operated by China Three Gorges Corporation.

“Baihetan signifies a major breakthrough in China’s high-end equipment manufacturing, as it is equipped with 16 home-grown hydro-generating units, each with a capacity of 1 million kilowatts, the largest single-unit capacity in the world,” said Lei Mingshan, chairman of China Three Gorges Corporation.

Baihetan is said to be one of China’s largest and most challenging engineering projects. According to CTGC, the project’s main structures consist of the dam, flood discharge structures, water diversion and power generation facilities. The dam is a double-curvature arch dam with a maximum height of 277 m, a crest elevation of 827 m, a crest width of 13 m and a maximum bottom width of 72 m.

The full operation of Baihetan is of great significance to China’s shift in energy structure, the construction of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, and the coordinated development of the regional economy in the country, Lei added.

It is a mega project in China’s west-east power transmission program, which aims to transmit electricity from the resource-rich western part of China to energy-hungry regions in eastern China. Baihetan’s operation marks the completion of what CTGC is calling the world’s largest clean energy corridor. Six mega hydropower stations on the Yangtze River work to transmit electricity from the resource-rich west to energy-consuming regions in the east.

The six hydropower stations, all run by the corporation, are expected to generate 300 billion kWh of electricity every year, reducing coal consumption by 90 million tonnes and carbon emissions by 248 million tonnes. Four of them — Wudongde, Baihetan, Xiluodu and Xiangjiaba — are located on the Jinsha River, the upper section of the Yangtze River, while the other two — Three Gorges Dam and Gezhouba — are on the middle section of the Yangtze.