The Three Gorges Project: The merits are in the contemporary era
Early spring in March, the vegetation grows, and the river water is clear and blue.
The majestic dam traverses the Yangtze River, the vertical take-off and landing ship lifts are connected up and down, the five-level ship locks with orderly opening and closing are ushered in, and the generator set embedded in the dam body is roaring...walking through the Three Gorges Dam area , The pulsation of the great power equipment is clear and sensible.
From the grand blueprint to the comprehensive completion, the Chinese nation’s century-old Three Gorges dream has finally become a reality.
As the largest water conservancy project in the world today, the Three Gorges Project protects the Yangtze River with huge comprehensive benefits such as flood control, power generation, shipping, and water resources utilization, and empowers economic and social development.
A big country is an important weapon for the people's livelihood and well-being.
The Three Gorges Project has become an important symbol of my country's development since the reform and opening up. It is a model of the superiority of my country's socialist system to concentrate its efforts on major tasks, a model of the wisdom and creativity of the Chinese people, and a model of the Chinese nation's growing prosperity and prosperity.
China Three Gorges Group Co., Ltd., which was born as a result of the Three Gorges Project, is transforming from "building the Three Gorges and developing the Yangtze River" to "managing the Three Gorges and protecting the Yangtze River", and is striding forward on the road of development from China to the world.
Taking the Three Gorges Project as a new starting point, my country has developed the "Three Gorges" one after another.
1. Dream shines into reality, Gaoxia exits Pinghu
Drive from Yichang East Station to the dam area, sometimes crossing the mountain and crossing the bridge, sometimes running parallel to the river.
Looking from a distance, the ink-colored barrier that greets you sometimes can't tell whether it is a mountain or a cloud.
The reporter couldn't help but think of the scene described by Mr. Sun Yat-sen in "General Plans for the Founding of the People's Republic of China" in 1918: "From Yichang up to the gorge...the rapids and beach rocks are along the stream." He proposed "Improve this upstream section. The water of the sluice weir allows the boat to travel backwards, and at the same time it can be used for its hydraulic power.
"Build the Xijiang cliffs, cut off Wushan's clouds and rain, and Gaoxia out of Pinghu." In 1956, after traveling the Yangtze River, Comrade Mao Zedong described the construction of the Three Gorges Dam with the romantic feelings of a poet.
Is it feasible to build the Three Gorges Dam?
What are the pros and cons?
Experts from academia, engineering and technology circles have fully demonstrated that the Three Gorges Project is necessary for my country’s four modernizations, is technically feasible, and economically reasonable. Construction is better than not being built, and early construction is better than late construction. , It is recommended to make early decisions.
In 1992, the Fifth Session of the Seventh National People's Congress voted and passed the "Resolution on the Construction of the Three Gorges Project on the Yangtze River."
In 1994, the construction of the Three Gorges Project on the Yangtze River was officially started.
In 1997, the river was closed.
In 2008, the main part of the Three Gorges Project was basically completed.
In 2020, complete all procedures for the overall completion acceptance.
So far, the construction process of the Three Gorges Project has come to a successful conclusion.
The Three Gorges Project is divided into hub projects, power transmission and transformation projects and resettlement projects.
Among them, the pivot project is mainly composed of dams, hydropower stations, and navigable buildings.
The total length of the dam axis is 2309.47 meters, the dam crest elevation is 185 meters, the designed water storage level is 175 meters, and the total storage capacity is 39.3 billion cubic meters, of which the flood control storage capacity is 22.15 billion cubic meters.
"For China, I will build the Three Gorges."
Millions of Three Gorges urban and rural residents bid farewell to their homeland, embarking on an immigration road that can be moved, stabilized, and gradually become rich; Three Gorges builders have independently innovated, overcome difficulties, and created more than 100 worlds bests. , Established more than 100 engineering quality and technical standards, and achieved brilliant achievements in the history of human water conservancy engineering.
The Three Gorges ship lift is the most technically difficult and largest ship lift in the world. It has created the world's first two indicators of ship scale and weight lifting.
The cabin volume of the ship lift is equivalent to 4 standard swimming pools, and the weight of the ship with water is 15,500 tons.
Based on the dam's storage level of 175 meters above sea level and the lowest navigable water level of 62 meters below the dam, it takes only about 40 minutes for a 3000-ton ship to cross a drop of 113 meters.
"Imagine the construction of the Three Gorges Project back then. If we rely on the introduction and the grant of others, how can we have the leading ability today!" In April 2018, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that the major powers must be mastered during the inspection of the Three Gorges Dam. In their own hands.
Through self-reliance, it is necessary to force the improvement of independent innovation capabilities.
Chen Houqun, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, once pointed out that the construction of the Three Gorges Project is a century-old dream of the Chinese nation.
After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the Three Gorges Project has undergone detailed surveys, full demonstrations, scientific decision-making, in-depth research, and meticulous construction. Finally, the world’s largest, most technically difficult, and high-quality, excellent water conservancy and hydropower project has been completed in the world today.
Driven by the Three Gorges Project, China's hydropower has transformed from a "follow-runner" to a "paralleler" and "leader", entering the "no man's land" of hydropower in the world.
2. A dam, multiple benefits
"The construction of the Three Gorges Project has changed the flood control situation of the Jingjiang River section, increasing its flood control standard from once in ten to twenty years of the embankment itself to once in a hundred years. Last year, due to flood control needs, the Three Gorges Dam opened 11 flood discharges for the first time." Said Li Shuai, a senior engineer at the basin hub operation management center of China Three Gorges Corporation.
From July to August 2020, there were 5 numbered floods entering the Three Gorges Reservoir.
Among them, the No. 5 flood peak reached 75,000 cubic meters per second, exceeding the maximum peak of 63,300 cubic meters per second in 1998 and the largest since the construction of the Three Gorges Reservoir.
During the No. 5 flood discharge process, the Three Gorges Reservoir controlled the discharge flow at 49,200 cubic meters per second, and the peak shaving rate reached 34.4%.
The Three Gorges Project, with a flood control storage capacity of 22.15 billion cubic meters, exceeds 60% of the total flood control capacity of the reservoirs in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River that have been included in the joint operation. It is the backbone of the Yangtze River Basin flood control system.
From 2003 to 2020, the Three Gorges Reservoir has implemented a total of 53 flood interception operations, and intercepted extremely large peaks exceeding 70,000 cubic meters per second for three times.
According to Jiang Dezheng, chief engineer of the Three Gorges Power Plant of China Yangtze Power Co., Ltd., the installed capacity of the Three Gorges Power Plant is 22.5 million kilowatts.
In 2020, under the premise of ensuring that the Three Gorges Project can fully utilize the comprehensive benefits of flood control, shipping, and water resources utilization, the Three Gorges Power Station will produce a total of 111.8 billion kWh of clean electricity throughout the year, breaking the previous annual power generation of the Itaipu Hydropower Station in South America. A world record of 103.098 billion kilowatt-hours.
Lei Mingshan, party secretary and chairman of China Three Gorges Group Co., Ltd., once said that the new record is one of the important signs of China's hydropower leading the world. According to the calculation of GDP per kilowatt-hour of electricity can generate 13.8 yuan, 111.8 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity can support my country's approximately 15,400 100 million yuan GDP.
As of December 2020, the Three Gorges Power Station has produced more than 1,399.1 billion kilowatt-hours of high-quality clean electricity, which is equivalent to saving more than 400 million tons of standard coal.
"High Gorge out of Pinghu" not only allows green energy to illuminate China, but also allows the scenery and the Three Gorges to compete with each other.
The backwater flooded the rapids and rapids on the Yangtze River Channel, ending the history of "Never-night sailing on the Sichuan River since ancient times". The unit transportation cost dropped by one-third, and the 10,000-ton fleet went straight to Chongqing.
As of December 2020, the accumulated cargo volume of the Three Gorges Ship Lock has exceeded 1.5 billion tons, and the Yangtze River Channel has become a veritable "golden waterway".
Li Shuai introduced that the inflow of water during the flood season accounts for 70 to 80% of the inflow of the Yangtze River.
As far as the river section of the dam site is concerned, from January to April each year, the natural flow of the Yangtze River is very small, about 4000 cubic meters per second.
The drainage and replenishment of the Three Gorges Project can increase the flow rate to 6000 cubic meters per second, which greatly eases the water pressure in the middle and downstream reaches.
"Since 2011, the Three Gorges Reservoir alone or in conjunction with the Xiluodu and Xiangjiaba Reservoirs have implemented a total of 14 ecological adjustments to promote the reproduction of the four major home fishes. Layered water discharges through the stacked beam gates have created artificial flood peaks and spawned for the four major home fishes. Breeding creates favorable water temperature and hydraulic conditions and protects the aquatic biodiversity of the Yangtze River," Li Shuai told reporters.
According to the monitoring results, from 2011 to 2020, the total number of reproduction of the four major home fish during the ecological regulation of the Yidu River section exceeded 6 billion, and the total number of reproduction of the four major home fish during the ecological regulation of the Shashi River section was 1 billion.
Among them, in the Yidu River section in 2018, the egg volume during the dispatch period accounted for about 75% of the egg volume during the monitoring period.
As of December 2020, the Three Gorges Reservoir has replenished water for the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River for more than 2,200 days, with a total of more than 290 billion cubic meters of water, which is equivalent to the storage capacity of 10 Poyang Lakes.
3. To achieve new development, the Three Gorges has responsibility
On the afternoon of March 15th, the Yangtze River Rare Fish Conservation Center (Chinese Sturgeon Research Institute) of the Three Gorges Group at the head of the Three Gorges Reservoir, the water was gurgling, and the fish were swimming smartly.
Chief engineer Jiang Wei and scientific researcher Guan Min are walking between the round fish ponds to observe the activities of Chinese sturgeons.
Jiang Wei introduced that the Chinese sturgeon was once the same time as the dinosaurs, at least 140 million years ago, and is one of the oldest fishes in existence.
The Yangtze River Rare Fish Conservation Center has established the largest artificial population echelon of Chinese sturgeon in the country with the most complete age structure, and established a Chinese sturgeon protection system covering the entire cycle of broodstock breeding, seed breeding, and migration monitoring.
Since 1984, the Yangtze River Rare Fish Conservation Center (Chinese Sturgeon Research Institute) of the Three Gorges Group has implemented 62 consecutive release activities, releasing more than 5.03 million Chinese sturgeons.
"When it was released, it was both distressed and happy. The Chinese sturgeon, who worked so hard to raise, still felt a little pain after being released, but it was very gratified to think that it could return to the Yangtze River, because the Yangtze River and the sea are after all its ultimate home." Guan Min Say.
As well as Jiang Wei and Guan Min who have tasted the ups and downs of species protection in the Three Gorges Reservoir, there is also Qiu Liwen, a senior engineer at the Yangtze River Rare Botany Institute.
Over the past ten years, he and his colleagues rescued and conserved 1,181 species of rare plants, and bred about 180,000 unique and rare plants in total.
100% of the plants affected by the impoundment of the Three Gorges have been effectively protected.
Qiu Liwen's most painstaking plant is the sparse flower and water cypress, which is known as the "One Wonder in the Three Gorges".
In the flood season, the sparse flower water cypress dormant in the river water; in the dry season, it grows and reproduces rapidly.
Its root system can be up to 2 meters deep, which is very suitable for planting on the beach slopes of the Yangtze River Basin.
Qiu Liwen, together with his colleague Huang Guiyun, etc., through arduous scientific research, mastered the germplasm resource preservation and asexual reproduction techniques of Sphaerotheca sphaeroides, and the survival rate of wild planting exceeded 90%.
Now they are conducting stress experiments in the fluctuating zone of the reservoir area, and they are progressing smoothly.
On the Yangtze River, Baihetan Hydropower Station is equipped with the world’s largest single-unit capacity of one million kilowatts of hydro-turbine generators; Xiluodu Hydropower Station adopts the international advanced intelligent construction mode at the time; Wudongde Hydropower Station uses big data and other technologies to achieve "digital dam" to "intelligence" The leap of the dam... the world's largest clean energy corridor is being formed in the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River.
In the cities of the Yangtze River Basin, the Three Gorges Group took urban sewage treatment as a breakthrough, and invested more than 130 billion yuan in 11 provinces and cities, corresponding to 17,000 kilometers of pipe network length, and the daily sewage treatment volume exceeded 10 million tons, which is equivalent to 1 purification in 1.5 days. The West Lake directly serves over 20 million people...The largest green ecological corridor along the river is under construction.
On the sea, the world’s largest offshore wind power international industrial park led and invested by the Three Gorges Group, and the 10 MW offshore wind turbine with the largest single-unit capacity in the Asia-Pacific region have been successfully connected to the grid for power generation, marking that China’s offshore wind power has entered the era of double-digit "large units"... …The "Three Gorges on the Sea" wind power corridor on the coast of the motherland is taking shape.
(Our reporter Xia Jing, Zhang Rui, our correspondent Yan Huahua, Cao Yiming)