The Three Gorges Project, China
Hydro-Electric
Power
DECEMBER 28
Authored by: Tamjeed Elaahee
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The Three Gorges Project
…A brief history…
When construction of the dam officially began in
1994, it was the largest engineering project in China.
At the time of its completion in 2006, it was the
largest dam structure in the world. The dam and
accompanying hydroelectric plant were built in
phases and over the course of many years. It
reached its full generating capacity in 2012.
First discussed in the 1920s by Chinese Nationalist Party leaders, the idea for the Three
Gorges Dam was given new impetus in 1953 when Chinese leader Mao Zedong ordered
feasibility studies of a number of sites. Detailed planning for the project began in 1955.
Its proponents insisted it would control disastrous flooding along the Yangtze, facilitate
inland trade, and provide much-needed power for central China, but the dam was not
without its detractors. Criticisms of the Three Gorges project began as soon as the plans
were proposed and continued through its construction.
Because of problems, work on the Three Gorges Dam was delayed for nearly 40 years
as the Chinese government struggled to reach a decision to carry through with plans for
the project. In 1992 Premier Li Peng, who had himself trained as an engineer, was
finally able to persuade the National People’s Congress to ratify the decision to build
the dam, though almost a third of its members abstained or voted against the project—
an unprecedented sign of resistance from a normally acquiescent body. Pres. Jiang
Zemin did not accompany Li to the official inauguration of the dam in 1994, and the
World Bank refused to advance China funds to help with the project, citing major
environmental and other concerns.
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Nevertheless, the Three Gorges project moved ahead. In 1993 work started on access
roads and electricity to the site. Workers blocked and diverted the river in 1997,
bringing to a close the first phase of construction. In 2003 the reservoir began to fill, the
five-tier ship locks—which allowed vessels of up to 10,000 tons to navigate past the
dam—were put into preliminary operation, and the first of the dam’s generators was
connected to the grid, completing the second phase of construction. (Following
completion of this second phase, some 1,200 sites of historical and archaeological
importance that once lined the middle reaches of the Yangtze River vanished as
floodwaters rose.) Construction of the main wall of the dam was completed in 2006.
The remainder of the dam’s generators were operational by mid-2012, and a ship lift,
which allowed vessels of up to 3,000 tons to bypass the five-tier ship locks and more
quickly navigate past the dam, was completed in late 2015 and began officially
operating in 2016.
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…Description of the scheme…
A straight-crested concrete gravity structure, the Three Gorges Dam is 2,335 meters
(7,660 feet) long with a maximum height of 185 meters (607 feet). It incorporates 28
million cubic meters (37 million cubic yards) of concrete and 463,000 metric tons of steel
into its design. Submerging large areas of the Qu tang, Wu, and Xiling gorges for some
600 km (375 miles) upstream, the dam has created an immense deep-water reservoir
allowing oceangoing freighters to navigate 2,250 km (1,400 miles) inland from Shanghai
on the East China Sea to the inland city of Chongqing. Navigation of the dam and reservoir
is facilitated by the five-tier ship locks at both ends of the complex, which allow vessels
of up to 10,000 tons to navigate past the dam, and a ship lift, which allows vessels of up
to 3,000 tons to bypass the ship locks and travel past the dam more quickly. At the time
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of its completion in late 2015, the lift, which was 120 meters (394 feet) long, 18 meters
(59 feet) wide, and 3.5 meters (11 feet) deep, was the largest ship lift in the world.
…Its location…
The Three Gorges Dam is a hydroelectric gravity dam that spans the Yangtze River by
the town of Sandouping, in Yiling District, Yichang, Hubei province, central China,
downstream of the Three Gorges.
…Advantages of the scheme…
Limited hydroelectric power production began in 2003 and gradually increased as
additional turbine generators came online over the years until 2012, when all of the
dam’s 32 turbine generator units were operating. Those units, along with 2 additional
generators, gave the dam the capacity to generate 22,500 megawatts of electricity,
making it the most productive hydroelectric dam in the world. In 2020 the hydroelectric
plant produced 111.88 kilowatt hours, setting a new world record for annual power
generation volume.
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The dam also was
intended to protect
millions of people
from the periodic
flooding that plagues
the Yangtze basin,
although just how
effective it has been
in this regard has
been debated. In
2020 China
experienced its
heaviest floods in
more than three
decades, and the
dam’s reservoir
neared maximum
capacity, reaching
the highest levels
since it began
retaining water in 2003. Officials said that the dam reduced damage and loss of life
from the floods, while critics asserted that the heavy floods served to highlight the
limitations of the dam as an effective flood-control tool.
…Disadvantages of the scheme…
Key problems included the danger of dam
collapse, the displacement of some 1.3 million
people (critics insisted the figure was actually
1.9 million) living in more than 1,500 cities,
towns, and villages along the river, and the
destruction of magnificent scenery and
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countless rare architectural and archaeological sites. There were also fears—some of
which were borne out—that human and industrial waste from cities would pollute the
reservoir and even that the huge amount of water impounded in the reservoir could
trigger earthquakes and landslides. Some Chinese and foreign engineers argued that a
number of smaller and far cheaper and less-problematic dams on the Yangtze
tributaries could generate as much power as the Three Gorges Dam and control
flooding equally well. Construction of those dams, they maintained, would enable the
government to meet its main priorities without the risks.