KUNMING, May 20 (Xinhua) -- All power-generating units of the Baihetan hydropower station in southwest China have been constructed, marking a major step toward the full operations of the mega project, according to the hydropower station.
All units are due to be operational by the end of the year. Baihetan will then be the world's second-largest hydropower station in terms of total installed capacity, second only to the Three Gorges Dam project in the central Chinese province of Hubei.
The hydropower station is located on the Jinsha River, the upper section of the Yangtze River in southwest China. It straddles the provinces of Yunnan and Sichuan.
Baihetan will have a total installed capacity of 16 million kilowatts. It is equipped with 16 hydro-generating units, each with a capacity of 1 million kilowatts, the largest single-unit capacity in the world.
Seven of the 16 power-generating units have already been put into operation. Since last June, the hydropower station has produced over 26.5 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity.
The electricity generated by one unit at the station is sufficient for 500,000 people for a month, said Kang Yonglin, one of the project's managing directors.
Once fully operational, the hydropower station will generate an average of more than 62.4 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity every year, sufficient for the annual electricity consumption of approximately 75 million people.
The hydropower station, which transmits electricity from the resource-rich west to energy-consuming regions in east China, marks a major step forward in the country's utilization of clean energy.
It is expected to reduce coal consumption by 19.68 million tonnes and carbon emissions by 52 million tonnes every year, contributing to China's carbon reduction efforts. ■
