Three Gorges Project fully completed, passed all tests

Three Gorges Project has been fully completed and passed all required procedures and construction works for overall "completion acceptance", China's Ministry of Water Resources and National Development and Reform Commission announced on Sunday.

The project meets the specifications and design requirements, and is functioning well in flood control, power generation, navigation, and water resources utilization, according to the conclusions made by the two government bodies.

The Three Gorges Project is by far the world’s largest water control project and the most comprehensive hydropower project. Monitoring shows that main structures such as the dam, flood discharge, energy dissipation, water diversion and power generation, navigation and Maopingxi protection project are all in good shape, and the electromechanical systems and devices and metal structure equipment are in safe and stable operation, they said.

In terms of flood control, by the end of August, the Three Gorges Reservoir had accumulated more than 180 billion cubic meters of floodwater. In 2010, 2012 and 2020, the maximum flood peak exceeded 70,000 cubic meters per second. Through the retention by the reservoir, the flood peak was reduced by about 40 percent, greatly reducing the flood control pressure in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

The Three Gorges Hydropower Plant is also the world's largest hydropower station with the largest total installed capacity and its power transmission and transformation project is tasked with transmitting the energy the plant produces. By the end of August, the Three Gorges Hydropower Plant had generated 1.354 trillion kilowatt-hours of electricity, boosting power supply in East China, Central China and South China's Guangdong Province and other regions. The Plant has also become an important large-scale clean energy production base in China.

The project has significantly improved the navigation conditions of the Sichuan section of the Yangtze River. Since trial navigation in June 2003, the freight volume the Three Gorges Dam ship lock handled has increased rapidly, exceeding 100 million tons for the first time in 2011 and reaching 146 million tons in 2019. By the end of August, a total of 1.483 billion tons of cargo had passed through the ship lock. The ship lock has promoted the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt.

Regarding water resource use, water discharge flow of the Three Gorges Reservoir during the dry season has been raised to more than 5,500 cubic meters per second, bringing replenishment of more than 20 billion cubic meters of water for the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River every year. By the end of August 2020, the reservoir has been replenishing water to the downstream areas for a total of 2,267 days, with a total amount of 289.4 billion cubic meters, improving water conditions for industries, households and ecology in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

As of the end of August, the clean power generated by the Three Gorges Hydropower Plant was equivalent to saving 430 million tons of standard coal and 1.169 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions, delivering significant benefits for energy conservation and emission reduction.

A total of 1.3 million residents have been relocated during the construction of the project and the infrastructure and public service facilities in the reservoir areas witnessed huge enhancement, significantly improving their living conditions. The overall geological environment and the ecosystem of the resettlement area as well as the reservoir are safe and sound, according to the two government bodies.