Three Gorges Dam

Gargantuan Three Gorges Dam- Another Wonder of our Globe

Three Gorges Dam
The Dam in September 2009
Location in Hubei
Country	China
Location	Sandouping, Yiling, Hubei
Coordinates	30°49′23″N 111°00′12″ECoordinates: 30°49′23″N 111°00′12″E
Purpose	Power, Flood Control, Navigation
Status	Operational
Start Construction	December 14, 1994
Opening Date	2008
Construction Cost	US$26 billion
Owner(s)	China Yangtze Power (subsidiary of China Three Gorges Corporation)
Dam and spillways
Type of Dam	Gravity Dam
Height	181 Meters (594 Feet)
Length	2,335 Meters (7,661 Feet)
Crest width	40 Meters (131 Feet)
Base width	115 Meters (377 Feet)
Impounds	Yangtze River
Spillway capacity	116,000 m3/s (4,100,000 cu ft/s)
Reservoir
Creates	Three Gorges Reservoir
Capacity	39.3 km3 (31,900,000 acre·ft)
Catchment Area	1,000,000 km2 (390,000 sq mi)
Surface Area	1,045 km2 (403 sq mi)
Normal Elevation	175 Meters (574 Feet)
Reservoir Length	600 KM (370 Mile)
Reservoir Width	1.1 KM (0.68 Mile) average
Power station
Commission date	2003–2012
Type	Conventional
Hydraulic Head	Rated: 80.6 Meters (264 Feet) Maximum: 113 Meters (371 Feet)[1]
Turbines	32 × 700 MW 2 × 50 MW Francis Type
Installed Capacity	22.5 GW
Capacity Factor	0.45
Annual Generation	80 TWh (290 PJ)
Net Generation	556 TWh (2,000 PJ) (2012)

Three Gorges Dam
In his poem "Swimming" (1956), engraved on the 1954 Flood Memorial in Wuhan, Mao Zedong envisions "walls of stone" to be erected upstream.[2]

The Three Gorges Dam is a hydroelectric dam that spans the Yangtze River by the town of Sandouping, located in Yiling District, Yichang, Hubei province, China. The Three Gorges Dam is the world's largest power station in terms of installed capacity (22,500 MW) but is second to Itaipu Dam with regard to the generation of electricity annually.^[3]

Except for a ship lift, the dam project was completed and fully functional as of July 4, 2012^[4][5], when the last of the 32 main turbines in the underground plant began production. Each main turbine has a capacity of 700 MW.^[3][6] The dam body was completed in 2006. Coupling the dam's 32 main turbines with two smaller generators (50 MW each) to power the plant itself, the total electric generating capacity of the dam is 22,500 MW.^[3][7][8]

As well as producing electricity, the dam is intended to increase the Yangtze River's shipping capacity and reduce the potential for floods downstream by providing flood storage space. The Chinese government regards the project as a historic engineering, social and economic success,^[9] with the design of state-of-the-art large turbines,^[10] and a move toward limiting greenhouse gas emissions.^[11] However, the dam flooded archaeological and cultural sites and displaced some 1.3 million people, and is causing significant ecological changes, including an increased risk of landslides.^[12] The dam has been a controversial topic both domestically and abroad.^[13]