The operator of the world's largest and most technically demanding power generators, to be installed at the world's largest dam, the Three Gorges Project, has called for bids on the remaining 12 units.
Yang Qing, vice general manager of the China Yangtze River Three Gorges Project Development Corporation, said his company has received tenders for four of the 12 generators, including from leading domestic manufacturers like Harbin Electric Machinery Plant in northeast China's Heilongjiang and Dongfang (Oriental) Electric Machinery Plant in Sichuan, southwest China.
The 12 dynamotors are to be built for the powerhouse in the right section of the Three Gorges Dam. The 14 dynamotors for the left section, worth a total value of US$740 million in contracts, are operational or under construction, Yang said.
The world's largest electricity project will have a total of 26 generators in place before it is completed in 2009, each boasting a capacity of 700,000 kilowatts, the most powerful in the world.
According to the manager, Chinese companies have played a major role in the manufacturing of the 14 left-section generators, which two international consortiums of local and foreign partners had won the right to build.
Yang said 55 percent of the parts of the 14 generators were locally produced by Chinese manufacturers, indicating China is now capable of producing large generators that require highly sophisticated technologies due to their huge size and large capacity.
Of the total 14, the left section's No. 2 unit was connected to the grids early on Thursday for a 30-day period of power generation before commencement of commercial production. Another began a 72-hour trial operation prior to being gridded. Two others are being installed, while the remaining 10 have been basically completed, according to Yang.
(Xinhua News Agency July 11, 2003)
