Baihetan Dam
The Baihetan Dam (simplified Chinese: 白鹤滩大坝; traditional Chinese: 白鶴灘大壩; pinyin: Báihètān Dàbà) is a large hydroelectric dam on the Jinsha River, an upper stretch of the Yangtze River in Sichuan and Yunnan provinces, in southwest China. The dam is a 289-meter-tall double-curvature arch dam 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. It is also the second largest hydropower plant in the world. The hydropower station is equipped with 16 hydro-generating units each having a capacity of 1 million kilowatts, the world's largest turbines. All hydro-generating units of the Baihetan hydropower station became fully operational on 20 December 2022.
| Baihetan Dam | |
|---|---|
Location of Baihetan Dam in China | |
| Official name | 白鹤滩大坝 |
| Coordinates | 27°13′07″N 102°54′22″E |
| Construction began | 2017 |
| Opening date | February 2021 |
| Construction cost | ¥220 billion (US$31.58 billion) |
| Dam and spillways | |
| Type of dam | double-curvature arch dam |
| Impounds | Jinsha River |
| Height | 289 metres (948 ft) |
| Width (crest) | 13 metres (43 ft) |
| Width (base) | 72 metres (236 ft) |
| Reservoir | |
| Total capacity | 17,924,000,000 m3 (14,531,223 acre⋅ft) |
| Power Station | |
| Turbines | 16 × 1 GW |
| Installed capacity | 16 GW (operational) |
| Annual generation | 60.24 TWh |
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, Xiluodu Dam, and Xiangjiaba Dam, all located on the same river system, to produce and transmit 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, improved navigation, and sand blocking.