On June 28, 2021, the first batch of units of the Jinsha River Baihetan Hydropower Station, the world's largest hydropower station under construction, the world's largest single-unit capacity, and the world's second-largest installed capacity, was officially put into operation for power generation.

Baihetan Hydropower Station is located in Ningnan County, Liangshan Prefecture, Sichuan Province and Qiaojia County, Zhaotong City, Yunnan Province. The most difficult hydropower project is a major national project for China to implement the "West-East Power Transmission" and build a clean, low-carbon, safe and efficient energy system. It is a landmark project for promoting the development of the western region in a new era and building a well-off society in an all-round way.

The Baihetan Hydropower Project is composed of major buildings such as barrages, flood discharge and energy dissipation facilities, and water diversion and power generation systems. The normal storage level of the reservoir is 825 meters, the total storage capacity is 20.627 billion cubic meters, and the flood control storage capacity is 7.5 billion cubic meters. It is an important part of the Yangtze River flood control system. Baihetan Hydropower Station is a giant hydropower project of 10 million kilowatts approved and started construction since the 18th of the party. The main part of the project was fully constructed in August 2017, the gates were closed in April 2021, and the dam was poured to the top in May 2021. .

The Baihetan Hydropower Station has a huge project scale and complex geological conditions. It is located in the dry-hot valley of the Jinsha River. The comprehensive technical difficulty ranks first in the world. The main technical indicators are the first in the world. The single-unit capacity of the hydro-turbine generator is 1 million kilowatts. The scale of underground caverns is the largest in the world; the scale of cylindrical tailwater surge tanks is the largest in the world; the seismic parameters of 300-meter high arch dams are the largest in the world; the scale of unpressured spillway tunnels is the largest in the world. For the first time, low-heat cement concrete was used for the entire dam.

The total installed capacity of Baihetan Hydropower Station is 16 million kilowatts, second only to the Three Gorges Project, ranking second in the world; the single unit capacity is 1 million kilowatts, ranking first in the world. The average power generation for many years is 62.443 billion kWh. The power is mainly transmitted to Jiangsu and Zhejiang, helping the economic development of the Yangtze River Delta.

After the Baihetan Hydropower Station is put into operation, it will form the world’s largest clean energy corridor together with the Three Gorges Project and Gezhouba Project, as well as the Jinsha River Wudongde, Xiluodu, and Xiangjiaba Hydropower Stations. The realization of the goal of "carbon neutrality" is of great significance. It is another important national tool for China Three Gorges Group to build a new development stage, implement new development concepts, and build a new development pattern for the Republic. After the Baihetan Hydropower Station is completed and put into operation, it can save about 19.68 million tons of standard coal each year, reduce emissions of 51.6 million tons of carbon dioxide, 170,000 tons of sulfur dioxide, and about 150,000 tons of nitrogen oxides. The benefits of energy saving and emission reduction are significant.

The construction and operation of Baihetan Hydropower Station can stimulate regional economic development, increase employment opportunities and local taxation, improve the transportation, communication and other infrastructure conditions in the surrounding area of the power station, improve the living standards of the people in the reservoir area, benefit 100,000 immigrants from Sichuan and Yunnan provinces, and help villages Revitalize. The Baihetan Hydropower Station plans to realize the commissioning of all generating units in July 2022. At present, the builders of the Baihetan Project are advancing the follow-up project construction and the installation and commissioning of the remaining units in a solid and orderly manner in accordance with the "exquisite project" standards.

Million-kilowatt hydro-generator set achieves a breakthrough

Wang Zhilin, director of the Baihetan Project Construction Department of the Three Gorges Group: How much electricity can such a huge unit generate in one revolution? According to our calculations, each revolution of the wheel can generate about 150 degrees of electricity, which is equivalent to the electricity consumption of an ordinary family in one month. A single unit can generate nearly 17,000 kWh per minute.

For the first time, Baihetan Hydropower Station adopted a million-kilowatt-level hydroelectric generator set entirely designed and manufactured by China, which achieved a major breakthrough in China's high-end equipment manufacturing.

What is the concept of a single machine capacity of one million kilowatts? This means that a Baihetan hydroelectric generating unit can generate 1 million kilowatt-hours of electricity after one hour of operation. A total of 16 million kilowatt units were designed and installed in the entire Baihetan Hydropower Station, all of which were independently developed and manufactured by China.

Yin Guojun, deputy general manager of Dongfang Electric: The entire rotating part exceeds 2,600 tons. After assembly, the operation has realized "zero counterweight". It meets the requirements of high-quality goods in one startup. Realize our dream of high quality for millions of units.

Because the Baihetan million-kilowatt unit adopts a number of world-first new technologies, its development is far more difficult than any unit under construction and commissioning in the world, and it is known as the "Mount Everest" of the world's hydropower industry. The successful commissioning of the unit will greatly promote the development of the entire hydropower industry, and also sign that China is gradually becoming the center of hydropower innovation in the world.

Wu Weizhang, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and General Manager of Harbin Electric Group Co., Ltd.: Because we have one million units of technology, we have driven the entire industry chain, including processing equipment and machine tools, as well as raw materials, supporting parts, and so on. The commissioning of the Baihetan unit indicates that our technology in hydropower generation equipment has reached the world's advanced level. When our country expands this kind of project in the future, the technology is completely in our own hands. Editor/Tian Zengpeng