The Three Gorges Power Plant, the country's largest hydropower project, has generated 59 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity so far this year, about 10 billion kwh more than last year's total, the Three Gorges Project Corporation said on Friday.

The hydroelectric station is expected to produce 63.7 billion kwh of electricity in 2007, which is equivalent to the total electricity consumption of Beijing, the company said.

Currently, 19 turbines have been put into production with a total installed capacity of 13.3 million kilowatts. Four of them were commissioned this year.

The project has produced 205 billion kwh of electricity since the first turbine began operation in July 2003.

The 22.5-billion-U.S.-dollar project was launched in 1993 in the mid-section of the Yangtze River, China's longest. Its 26 turbo-generators are designed to eventually produce 84.7 billion kwh of electricity a year after its scheduled completion in 2008.

(Xinhua News Agency December 8, 2007)