The first power generator on the southern bank of China's Three Gorges Project is expected to be linked to the grid and begin operating this month.

Installation of the No.22 unit began in June last year, and workers were fitting the rotor, said Zhang Chengping, deputy chief of machinery and electronic engineering of the China Three Gorges Project Corporation.

The project, the world's largest water control facility, is located on the middle reaches of the Yangtze, China's longest river, with a 185-meter-high dam, completed in June last year, and a five-tier ship lock.

It will have 14 turbo-generators on the north bank and 12 on the south, producing 84.7 billion kwh of power a year after its scheduled completion in 2009 -- enough to light up Shanghai on a peak day with power to spare.

The 2.3-kilometer-long dam will help control annual floods that devastate the country's densely populated farming heartland.

The 14 turbines on the north bank are operating at full capacity.

The project has generated more than 150 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity since it began operating in 2003.

(Xinhua News Agency May 23, 2007)