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China's Top Power Plant Seen Ready Ahead of Time |
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| CHINA: June 6, 2007 | ||
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BEIJING - China's largest hydropower plant, the Three Gorges, is expected to be fully operational several months ahead of schedule in 2008, Xinhua reported, indicating more electricity supply to the energy-hungry economy.
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Twelve huge turbines, with 700 megawatt capacity each, are being installed on the right bank of the Three Gorges and four will be ready three or four months ahead of schedule, the official news agency said. The remaining eight will be operational two or three months earlier than expected, it added. Another 14 turbines of the same size on the left bank started generating power in September 2005 and had produced 160 billion kilowatt hours (KWh) of electricity as of May this year, said Xinhua, of power generation that was equivalent to more than 40 percent of nationwide hydropower output in 2006. The US$23 billion plant was originally designed to have total capacity of 18.2 gigawatts, but a further six underground generators will boost total capacity to 22.4 GW, the news agency said in a separate report. Construction of the underground unit, to be used as back-up power supply, began in February 2005, Xinhua said without providing an expected completion date. China, wary of over-dependence on imported oil and increasing environmental problems caused by excessive use of coal, has set ambitious targets to develop hydropower resources in the southwest of the country. But conservation groups at home and abroad have criticised the plans, citing potential biological and environmental damage.
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REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
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