China Gets Back to Work on Second Largest Dam
Date: 28-Dec-05
Country: CHINA
Total investment would surpass 50 billion yuan ($6.2 billion) by the time the Xiluodu power station was completed in 2015, when it would annually generate 57.1 billion to 64 billion kilowatt hours of electricity, Xinhua news agency said.
The dam would cross the Jinsha river section of the Yangtze in 2007 and its first generator would be installed in 2012, Xinhua said.
At the beginning of the year, China's environmental watchdog ordered the state-owned Yangtze River Three Gorges Project Development Corp. to halt unapproved construction of three hydropower projects, including the Xiluodu dam.
Beijing generally encourages development of hydropower stations, which account for around a quarter of China's installed capacity, as renewable, relatively clean alternatives to thermal plants.
But some environmentalists do not believe large hydropower projects should be grouped with renewable energy technologies like solar power and wind turbines because of their impact on river systems.
Xinhua said the Three Gorges Corp. had turned over the necessary environmental impact assessment on the Xiluodu dam to the State Environmental Protection Administration, but did not say when the watchdog gave the green light for work to resume.
The Xiluodu dam would be one of four new projects along the Jinsha river that would have a total installed capacity of 38 gigawatts, Xinhua said, more than the projected 22.4 gigawatts at the Three Gorges Dam, the world's largest hydropower project.
When completed, the four new projects could generate 174 billion kilowatt hours of electricity annually, the report said.
The Xiluodu project is part of China's West-East power transmission project, which aims to take electricity from poor areas suited to dams to the booming but power-strapped coastal regions.
(US $1 = 8.073 Yuan)