Another mega-project in China is on the horizon
When the Chinese Academy of Engineering selected the world's top ten engineering achievements in 2023, another giant project in China was on the list and was about to come out, which was the Baihetan Hydropower Station project with a total investment of 220 billion yuan.
This project is known for its high difficulty, creating 6 world firsts, and it is currently the largest water conservancy project under construction in the world, and it is also the most technically difficult project.
The Baihetan Hydropower Station is located in Ningnan County, Sichuan, at the junction of Qiaojia County, Yunnan Province, with the help of the Jinsha River, and can also develop shipping and play a role in power generation and flood control.
This large hydropower station is expected to install 16 generating units, all of which are independently developed and built equipment, with a total installed capacity of 16 million kilowatts and an annual power generation of 62.4 billion kilowatt hours. Once this mega project is put into use, it will bring a very large effect on saving traditional energy, providing electricity to support the annual electricity consumption of 75 million people, and can also save nearly 20 million tons of traditional coal energy.
The Baihetan Hydropower Station is very surprised by the world's highest water storage level of 825 meters, with a total storage capacity of 20.6 billion cubic meters and a dam control basin area of 430,300 square kilometers, accounting for ninety percent of the upper reaches of the Jinsha River.
The flood control reservoir capacity is 7.5 billion cubic meters, the flood flow is 40,000 cubic meters per second, and the largest flood discharge hole can pass 12,000 cubic meters of flood water per second.
Baihetan Hydropower Station project is huge, the geological conditions are harsh, located in the Sichuan-Yunnan region of the earthquake zone Hengduan Mountains, although such a location has abundant natural water bodies, but also brings more challenges, the mountain is steep and rushing water flow is turbulent and fierce, but also let the foundation of the hydropower station bring unstable risk factors.
The Baihetan Hydropower Station is a concrete gravity dam, and the tall dam body actually has to bear the pressure of a huge body of water, which is difficult to bear. Technicians used a variety of methods to design a special concrete to create a dam with a total height of 289 meters, which was able to robustly intercept and store water.
The huge and turbulent water volume of the Jinsha River, the annual flood season flood and the problem of sediment tilting are also a huge test, and these have become a difficult problem for the construction of the Baihetan Hydropower Station. Engineers eventually came up with a good solution, building a number of inlet reservations and holes for flood discharge, so that the flood could pass through as long as they were consistent with the flow of water and abrasion.
In order to protect the environment and maintain the ecology, a lot of scientific and reasonable planning has been made in the protection of mountains, forests and cultivated land along the way, and effective measures have been formulated.
The construction of this giant project started in 2017, and the units will start to generate electricity in 2022, allowing the mainland to realize the largest clean energy system in the Yangtze River basin and bringing more electric energy support to the production and life of the people.
Any mega project, is not overnight, the mainland's ideal demonstration and study of this project, as early as the 60s of the 20th century began to discuss, in 2004 East China Survey and Design Institute, carried out a large number of survey feasibility studies, made a scientific and detailed report.
Because this project involves 100,000 immigrants, it is a huge project, so the state was very cautious, and finally completed sufficient preparatory work to realize the construction of this huge project.
On both sides of the mountain, excavate two or so underground workshops, the length of the two plants is more than 450 meters, the excavation width is 34 meters, the excavation height is 88 meters, and 8 tailwater pressure regulating chambers are also built, and the tailwater tunnel is also built, which is combined with the diversion tunnel.
There are more than 400 underground caverns, with a total length of 217 kilometers.
Eight sets of 750,000 kilowatt hydro-generator sets and other related equipment are installed in the plant, which are very large in size, with a height of more than 50 meters and a weight of more than 8,000 tons.
The generator set created by this new technology has a high-efficiency power generation efficiency, and a single unit can send millions of kilowatt-hours of electricity after working for one hour. Now that the Baihetan power station has been put into operation, it is the second of four hydropower stairs in the lower reaches of the Jinsha River. It is 41 kilometers away from Qiaojia County, Yunnan Province, and 195 kilometers away from Xiluodu Hydropower Station, which has not only become another eye-catching project to benefit the people in the mainland, but also played a certain role in promoting the rapid development of shipping work and local economy.
The scale of the Baihetan Hydropower Station is astonishing and the difficulty of the project is so great that it has set a new record, and it has also added a new masterpiece to the mainland's infrastructure madness, building a new monument for the mainland's water conservancy projects.
For hydroelectric power, it can add a large amount of green energy for the country, promote the rapid development of new energy, gradually save and replace the proportion of traditional energy, maintain the ecological environment, and reduce carbon emissions, all of which have comprehensive advantages and positive significance.