The reservoir of the Longtan hydropower project, China's third
largest hydroelectric plant, began storing water on Saturday when
four sluice gates were lowered to stop the flow of the Hongshui
River.
The project is a key component of the government's campaign to
develop the western regions and to bring electricity to the
economically developed, but energy-demanding eastern and coastal
areas.
The water storage would enable the project to begin generating
next May, two months ahead of schedule, said Dai Bo, general
manager of Longtan Hydropower Development Co. of China Datang
Corporation (CDT).
It would take eight to 18 days to raise the water level in the
reservoir from 215 to 290.5 meters, and the level would rise to 375
meters in August 2009, said Zhong Jun, chairman of Longtan
Hydropower Development, in charge of the water storage process.
The process would have no effect further down the Pearl River
because another downstream hydropower project would increase the
water discharge, sad deputy general manager Long Xianjin.
Chu Yueting, another general manager, said the company had
worked out countermeasures to possible problems, including
earthquakes, silting and pollution.
Located in northwest Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the Longtan
project lies on the Honghe River, a major tributary of the Pearl
River. It is China's third largest after the Three Gorges Project
on the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, and Xiluodu hydropower
project on Jinsha River, a tributary of the Yangtze.
An investment of 30 billion yuan (US$3.75 billion) from China
Datang Corporation (CDT) was used to build the 216.5-meter-high
dam, a ship lock and an underground generating house with nine
turbo-generators with a total possible production of 6.3 million
kw.
Construction began in July 2001 and the project is scheduled to
finish in 2009, with the first three generators in operation in May
2007. It will be capable of generating 18.7 billion kw/hour of
electricity annually once completed.
Half of the power from the project would be transmitted to
Guangdong, to the east of Guangxi, said Dai Bo.
The project will also help in flood control and improving
conditions for shipping, and in combating the salt tide that has
been plaguing water usage in cities on the Pearl River Delta.
More than 80,000 residents in 10 counties of Guizhou Province and?Guangxi will be
displaced by the construction. So far, 34,207 have been relocated
to higher ground.
Longtan hydropower project is just one of the many water control
facilities being constructed in west China.
Ma Hongqi, a hydroelectric specialist and a member of the
Chinese Academy of Engineering, said China was at a construction
peak in hydropower projects, most of which are being built in west
China, during the 11th Five-Year Plan period (2006-2010) and
would experience another peak from 2012 to 2016 when many of the
projects would begin generating.
China boasts 540 million kw of exploitable hydro-electric
resources, most of which are concentrated on rivers in west China.
Only 24 percent of the country's hydroelectric resources are
utilized.
The country will have the world's highest capacity of
hydroelectric plants at 125 million kw by 2010, accounting for
19percent of national capacity. Total installed capacity was 508
million kw last year.
By 2010, 40 percent of the country's hydroelectric resources
will be utilized, said Ma.
(Xinhua News Agency October 1, 2006)
