Baihetan Dam
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The Baihetan Dam () is a large
hydroelectric dam Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and ...
on the
Jinsha River The Jinsha River (, Tibetan: Dri Chu, འབྲི་ཆུ) is the Chinese name for the upper stretches of the Yangtze River. It flows through the provinces of Qinghai, Sichuan, and Yunnan in western China. The river passes through Tiger L ...
, an upper stretch of the
Yangtze River The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest list of rivers of Asia, river in Asia, the list of rivers by length, third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in th ...
in
Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...
and
Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked Provinces of China, province in Southwest China, the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is ...
provinces, in southwest
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
. The dam is a 289-meter-tall double-curvature
arch dam An arch dam is a concrete dam that is curved upstream in plan. The arch dam is designed so that the force of the water against it, known as hydrostatic pressure, presses against the arch, causing the arch to straighten slightly and strengthen ...
with a crest elevation of 827 m, and a width of 72 m at the base and 13 m at the crest. It is considered to be the last large hydropower project in China after a series of projects starting with the
Three Gorges Dam The Three Gorges Dam is a hydroelectric gravity dam that spans the Yangtze River by the town of Sandouping, in Yiling District, Yichang, Hubei province, central China, downstream of the Three Gorges. The Three Gorges Dam has been the world ...
. It is also the second largest hydropower plant in the world. The hydropower station is equipped with 16 hydro-generating units that each have a capacity of 1 million kilowatts, making it the largest single-unit capacity globally. All hydro-generating units of the Baihetan hydropower station became fully operational on 20 December 2022. The dam is also part of the “world’s largest clean energy corridor”, where it joins other mega hydropower projects like the Three Gorges Dam,
Wudongde Dam The Wudongde Dam () is a large hydroelectric dam on the Jinsha River, an upper stretch of Yangtze River in Sichuan and Yunnan provinces in southwest China. The design is one of the tallest in the world at , and will generate power by utilizing 1 ...
,
Xiluodu Dam The Xiluodu Dam () is an arch dam on the Jinsha River, i.e. the upper course of the Yangtze in People's Republic of China, China. It is located near the town (China), town of Xiluodu in Yongshan County of Yunnan Province but the dam straddles into ...
, and
Xiangjiaba Dam The Xiangjiaba Dam () is a large gravity dam on the Jinsha River, a tributary of the Yangtze River in Yunnan Province and Sichuan Province, southwest China. The facility has twelve Francis turbines, four with a capacity of 812 MW and four rated ...
, all located on the same river system, to produce and transmit
renewable energy Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a human timescale. It includes sources such as sunlight, wind, the movement of water, and geothermal heat. Although most renewable energy ...
from the resource-rich western region to the cities in the east. In addition to power generation, the hydropower project also provides
flood control Flood control methods are used to reduce or prevent the detrimental effects of flood waters."Flood Control", MSN Encarta, 2008 (see below: Further reading). Flood relief methods are used to reduce the effects of flood waters or high water level ...
, improved navigation, and sand blocking.


History

In June 1959, an on-site survey was conducted at Qiaojia by a domestic expert group and a Czechoslovakian expert group and, consequently, the future site for the Baihetan Power Station was selected. However, the breaking down of relations during the Sino-Soviet split in 1962, resulted in the survey team being withdrawn. The beginning of China’s “Cultural Revolution" also saw the construction plans becoming shelved for many years. It wasn't until August 3, 2017, when construction of the main dam was officially started. An opening ceremony took place on February 5, 2021, and storage of water behind the dam commenced on April 7th of the same year, and by April 24, the water storage elevation of the hydro plant had risen over 720 meters. On 20 December, 2022, the formal completion of Baihetan Hydropower Station was achieved when the final hydro-generating unit was connected to the grid and began producing power.


Power generation

The facility generates power by utilizing 16
turbines A turbine ( or ) (from the Greek , ''tyrbē'', or Latin ''turbo'', meaning vortex) is a rotary mechanical device that extracts energy from a fluid flow and converts it into useful Work (physics), work. The work produced by a turbine can be used ...
, each with a generating capacity of , taking the generating capacity to . In terms of generating capacity, it is the second largest
hydroelectric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and ...
power plant in the world, after the
Three Gorges Dam The Three Gorges Dam is a hydroelectric gravity dam that spans the Yangtze River by the town of Sandouping, in Yiling District, Yichang, Hubei province, central China, downstream of the Three Gorges. The Three Gorges Dam has been the world ...
. It is estimated to generate 62.44 billion kilowatt-hour (kWh) annually and will save about 90.45 million tons of coal per year and consequently reduce annual carbon emissions by 248.4 million tonnes.


Construction

Surveying of the dam site was done in 1992. In 2008, the original plan for the construction of Baihetan Hydropower Station, was formally started. In December 2008, the Baihetan site began construction. The dam was originally scheduled to be constructed between 2009 and 2018. The Jinsha River became officially closed on November 2014. Actual construction started on August 3, 2017. The manufacturing of the first water guiding mechanism in the Baihetan Hydro-generator units was completed in Harbin, where it both passed inspection and was awarded approval on October 27, 2018. The first 1,000 MW turbine runner was completed at Dongfang Electric’s Baihetan Runner Processing Plant on January 12, 2019. The reservoir first started storing water on 7 April 2021, and by 24 April, the water storage elevation of the power station had risen over 720 metres. The hydropower station started partial electricity generation in July of the same year. The dam was expected to be fully operational by July 2022. Experts have noted the 4-year construction period as being exceptionally fast for a project of its type. On June 28, 2021, the Baihetan Dam began generating electricity, when the project's first two turbines started operating. The third turbine followed in July and the fourth in November of the same year. The final generating unit was connected to the grid on 20 December 2022.


Impact

The dam and reservoir have particularly affected upstream
Qiaojia County Qiaojia County () is a county in the northeast of Yunnan province, China, bordering Sichuan province to the north and west. The population was 625,000 in 2019, 33,200 of whom belonged to ethnic minorities. It is both the southernmost and westernmo ...
, providing thousands of jobs to local residents, while also requiring resettlement of 32 villages totaling 50,178 residents. Coinciding with the dam construction, the road network was also improved.


See also

*
Wudongde Dam The Wudongde Dam () is a large hydroelectric dam on the Jinsha River, an upper stretch of Yangtze River in Sichuan and Yunnan provinces in southwest China. The design is one of the tallest in the world at , and will generate power by utilizing 1 ...
, the next dam upstream *
Xiluodu Dam The Xiluodu Dam () is an arch dam on the Jinsha River, i.e. the upper course of the Yangtze in People's Republic of China, China. It is located near the town (China), town of Xiluodu in Yongshan County of Yunnan Province but the dam straddles into ...
, the next dam downstream *
List of power stations in China The following page lists some power stations in mainland China divided by energy source and location. Coal Nuclear Hydroelectric Solar Tide Wind By location The following pages list the major power stations ...
*
List of largest power stations This article lists the largest power stations in the world, the ten overall and the five of each type, in terms of current installed electrical capacity. Non-renewable power stations are those that run on coal, fuel oils, nuclear fuel, natural ...


References

Hydroelectric power stations in Yunnan Hydroelectric power stations in Sichuan Dams in China Dams on the Jinsha River Buildings and structures in Zhaotong 2021 establishments in China Dams completed in 2021 {{PRChina-powerstation-stub