Main works of Three Gorges Project finished a year ahead of schedule

Workers check the generating unit 15 on

the right bank of the Three Gorges Project in central China's Hubei

Province Oct. 29, 2008. The last turbo-generator completed a 72-hour test

run at 9 a.m. Wednesday, and would be connected to the power grid. Main

works of the Three Gorges Project are a 185-meter-high dam, a five-tier

ship lock, and 26 hydropower turbo-generators. The dam has 14

turbo-generators on the left bank and 12 on the right. (Chinese media

Photo)
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YICHANG, Oct. 29 (Chinese media) -- With the last

turbo-generator in operation on the south bank of the Yangtze River at 9 a.m.

Wednesday, the Three Gorges Project looks set to be completed one year ahead of

construction schedule.

Generating unit 15, which had a 72-hour test run,

would be connected to the power grid on Thursday, said Cao Guangjing, deputy

general manager of China Three Gorges Project Corporation.

"More checks on unit 15 and other aspects concerning

the entire project, including final financial accounting are also be pending,"

said Cao.

Begun in 1993, the Three Gorges

Project was expected to be finished by November 2009.

This photo taken on Oct. 28, 2008 shows

the dam of the Three Gorges Project in central China's Hubei Province Oct.

29, 2008. (Chinese media Photo)
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With a budget equivalent to 22.5 billion U.S.

dollars, the project is also a water control system for the upper and middle

reaches of the Yangtze, China's longest waterway. Its functions cover power

generation, flood control and navigation.

Main works of the project are a 185-meter-high dam, a

five-tier ship lock, and 26 hydropower turbo-generators. The dam has 14

turbo-generators on the left bank and 12 on the right.

Combined, they will produce 84.7 billion kw of

electricity annually, which would require 40 million to 50 million tonnes of

coal consumption for a coal-fired station to produce.

Plans were expanded further to include six more

turbines by 2012. A ship lift will be finished by 2015.

The project has produced 270 billion kwh of

electricity since July 2003, when the first generating unit began operation.

The electricity generated by the project supplies 15

provinces in central, eastern and southern China, easing a severe power shortage

in industrial regions.

As of June, 1.24 million residents had been relocated to make way for the construction.

This photo taken on Oct. 29, 2008 shows generating units on the right bank of the Three Gorges Project in central China's Hubei Province. (Chinese media Photo)
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