China has began constructing what will be the third biggest hydropower station in the country and the seventh largest in the world. The project, which approximately costs over 100 billion yuan (USD 15.4 million), will be located on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River.

The Wudongde Project will be situated at Jinsha River's mainstream (the upper reach of Yangtze River) between Sichuan province's Donghui county and Yunnan province's Luquan county. The dam will be used to block the river and create a reservoir with a capacity of up to 7.4 billion cubic meters of water.

Like Us on Facebook

The plant will have a total capacity of 10.2 gigawatts, according to China Three Gorges Corp (CTG), the construction firm behind the project. When all 12 generating units are completely installed, the Wundongde hydropower plant is expected to produce around 39 billion kilowatt-hours annually. 

The project's first unit is expected to begin operation in August 2020. While all 12 units are set to be fully functional by the end of 2021. The Wudongde hydropower plant will help lessen annually China's carbon dioxide emissions by 30.5 million metric tons and sulfur dioxide by 104,000 tons. It will also save about 12 million tons of coal consumption a year.

The new project will aid the People's Republic to reach its clean energy goals by 2020. Furthermore, the Wudongde dam will also encourage investors in related industries like manufacturing of heavy equipment and machinery.

"It will be a major project to stabilize economic growth during the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) and a key power source for the massive west-to-east electricity transmission project," Lu Chun, chairman of CTG, said.

As the People's Republic plans to increase its use of non-fossil fuel in its energy mix by about 15 percent, the country is expected to continue to build more dams in the next five years. Overall, China's hydropower ability transcends that of Brazil, Canada and the United States combined.

"The country will need more hydropower to cut its carbon footprint, because hydropower is a very reliable source and meets the increasing demand for energy consumption," China Hydropower Engineering Society's deputy secretary-general Zhang Boting said.

The project will annually employ more than 70,000 local workers and bring in a total revenue in the local government of about 1.35 billion yuan. More than 30,000 residents in 10 counties living nearby will be relocated.

Tagshydropower plant, dam, wudongde project, water dam, Yangtze River