The Yele Dam is an

embankment dam An embankment dam is a large artificial dam. It is typically created by the placement and compaction of a complex semi-plastic mound of various compositions of soil or rock. It has a semi-pervious waterproof natural covering for its surface and ...

on the

Nanya River The Nanya River is the primary right tributary of the middle Dadu River (Dadu He) — in Sichuan Province, southern China. The Dadu is a tributary of the upper Yangtze River (Chang Jiang). The Nanya River borders Mianning County and Shimian Co ...

along the border of

Mianning County Mianning County () is a county of Sichuan Province, China. It is under the administration of the Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture. History Mianning County has a long history of being a multi-ethnic region. The Annals of Mianning County (), pub ...

and

Shimian County Shimian County () is both the southernmost and westernmost counties in China, county in the prefecture-level city of Ya'an, Sichuan, Sichuan Province, China. The county seat, Miancheng Subdistrict (), and the neighboring towns in China, town, Xinm ...

Sichuan Province 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 ...

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 ...

. It is high and long. Because the dam lies within a Level VIII earthquake intensity zone, its core is composed of

asphalt concrete Asphalt concrete (commonly called asphalt, blacktop, or pavement in North America, and tarmac, bitumen macadam, or rolled asphalt in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland) is a composite material commonly used to surface roads, parkin ...

. Construction on the dam began in 2000, the reservoir began impounding on January 1, 2005 and the entire project was complete in August 2006. The purpose of the dam is to produce

hydroelectricity Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, 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 Renewabl ...

and it supports a 240 MW power station. Water from the dam's reservoir is diverted into a long headrace tunnel before reaching the power station.

References

{{reflist Hydroelectric power stations in Sichuan Dams in China Rock-filled dams Dams completed in 2006

See also

References