The Three Gorges Dam is a hydroelectric dam that spans the Yangtze River by the town ofSandouping, located in the Yiling District of Yichang, in Hubei province, China.
Three Gorges Dam location: Wikipedia image
The dam body was completed in 2006. Except for a ship lift, the originally planned components of theproject were completed on October 30, 2008, when the 26th generator in the shore plant began commercial operation. Each generator has a capacity of 700 MW. Six additional generators in the underground power plant are not expected to become fully operational until 2011. Coupling the dam’s 32 main generators with 2 smaller generators (50 MW each) to power the plant itself, the total electric generating capacity of the dam will eventually reach 22,500 MW.
Xinhua reports from Yichang, Hubei that the water level at the Three Gorges Dam, the world’s largest water control project, reached 164.59 meters on Sunday, only 10 meters short of its full capacity of 175-meters. The dam in central China started to hold back water this September by discharging less to the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, the country’s longest river.
When the water level is at its maximum of 175 metres over sea level (110 metres above the river level downstream), the dam reservoir is about 660 kilometres in length and 1.12 kilometres in width on average, and contains 39.3 km3 of water. The total surface area of the reservoir is 1,045 km². The reservoir flooded a total area of 632 km² of land, compared to the 1,350 km² of reservoir created by the Itaipu Dam on the border of Brazil and Paraguay (which has a generating capacity of 14,000 MW).
Yangtze longitudinal profile: Wikipedia image
Reaching the 175-meter water level would enable the Three Gorges Dam to fulfill its functions of flood control and generating electricity to the fullest extent, symbolizing the total success of the massive water project. This is the reservoir’s third attempt to reach full capacity since 2008. However, water levels stopped at 172.8 meters in 2008 and 171.43 meters in 2009 due to droughts on the lower reaches.
However, this time officials believe the dam will reach full capacity by the end of October.
Changed Landscape of the Three Gorges Dam region. (NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio).
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