China adds a new signing to its long catalog of megastructures. On Friday, the authorities officially activated the last power generation unit of the Lianghekou Hydroelectric Power Plant, a gigantic construction erected at an average altitude of 3,000 meters, which places it above the rest of its kind in China. The colossus stands on the Yalong River, in Garzê, in the southwest of the country, and its total planned installed capacity is three million kW.
The construction of the mega-power plant began more than seven years ago, in October 2014, and those responsible calculate that it may be fully completed next year. In total, the approved investment is around 66,500 million yuan, the equivalent of 9,449 million euros. The reservoir is designed to reach 10,800 million cubic meters (m3) and it is estimated that the annual volume of power generation will be above 11,000 million KWh. The first unit of the hydroelectric plant had been commissioned half a year ago, in September.
Up to 295 meters high
According to Yalong River Hydropower Development Company Ltd (YLHDC), at its highest point the breakwater dam rises 295 meters, which places it practically at the level of the Eiffel Tower, which without the antenna is around 300 m. The megastructure includes, among other elements, spillways, a ventilation tunnel and an underground power plant. According to the state news agency Xinhua, the hydroelectric plant will contribute to the supply of Sichuan and the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt and the Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle.
The state agency has also published images and a video showing what the mega-power plant looks like both inside and out, including the rooms where the operators work, the six power generation units or the monitoring equipment for the technicians.
China’s highest-altitude mega hydropower plant officially put into operation https://t.co/uKUpyHsGVg pic.twitter.com/DdFKGNZv6d
— China Xinhua Sci-Tech (@XHscitech) March 18, 2022
The hydroelectric complex is located about 25 kilometers upstream from Yajiang County, in the Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. in total sum 1.57 kilometers long. Its water intake tower reaches 115 meters high, 160 wide and 33 long. The high altitude at which it is located allows its average altitude to be 3,000 meters, the highest in the country for an infrastructure of this type and, according to Global Times, the second in the world. The same media indicates that its 11 slopes reach 684 meters, which is even higher than the Shanghai Tower, and the maximum depth of the reservoir reaches 285. Its discharge speed can generate six kilowatts per hour.
The Lianghekou plant is one of the 22-level plants to be developed in the main stream of the Yalong and was approved by the authorities of the Asian Giant in 2014.
Cover image | Ylhdc.com.cn
George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism