China News Service, Chengdu, June 28 (Zhang Lang and Zhang Dongmei) On the morning of the 28th, the world's largest hydropower project under construction, the first batch of units of the Baihetan Hydropower Station, was officially connected to the grid for power generation.
It is understood that the Baihetan Hydropower Station dam site is located in the lower reaches of the main stream of the Jinsha River in Ningnan County, Liangshan Prefecture, Sichuan and Qiaojia County, Zhaotong City, Yunnan.
The hydropower station has a total installed capacity of 16 million kilowatts. After completion, it is the second largest hydropower station in the world after the Three Gorges Power Station; the single-unit capacity is 1 million kilowatts, ranking first in the world; the total length of underground caverns is 217 kilometers, the largest in the world.
The dam of Baihetan Hydropower Station.
Photo by Zhang Lang
There are 8 million-kilowatt hydro-turbine generators installed on the left and right sides of Baihetan, all of which are independently developed by Chinese companies.
On the 28th, Baihetan's power generating units were No. 14 and No. 1 units.
Among them, the No. 14 unit installed and debugged by China Energy Construction Gezhouba Electromechanical Company is the world's first unit to achieve full-load power generation of 1 million kilowatts. The installation of the unit body began on December 31, 2019, and at 8 o'clock on June 21, 2021. The world’s first megawatt hydro-turbine generator set was connected to the grid for the first kilowatt of electricity in 58 minutes and 36 seconds. It successfully passed the 72-hour trial operation at 12:48 on June 26 and was officially connected to the grid for power generation.
According to the plan, all units of the Baihetan Hydropower Station will be completed and put into operation in July 2022. By then, one day's power generation can meet the daily life of 500,000 people.
(Finish)