Generating units pass full generation capacity test
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-10-30 08:56
Fourteen generating units of the Three Gorges Project, the world's largest
hydropower plant, have passed a 72-hour full operating capacity test, an
official in charge of the project said on Sunday.
Over a period of three
days ending 9:00 a.m. Sunday, the 14 units generated 700,000 kw/hour of
electricity without showing any signs of instability, said Li Yong'an, general
manager of the China Three Gorges Project Corporation.
Li said generator
performance can only be tested thoroughly by putting them through a 72-hour full
capacity test.
This is the first time that China has independently
operated such a big group of generating units. There are only 37 generating
units with a capacity of 700,000 kw/hour in the entire world.
The water
level in the Three Gorges Reservoir began to rise from the 135.5 meter mark on
September 20 and reached the 156 meter mark on Friday.
According to the
original design, a water level of 148 meters is required for full generation
capacity.
The 14 generating units underwent a one-day full generation
capacity test on October 18.
Since being commissioned in 2003, the units had
been generating 550,000 kw/hour of electricity from the lower water level in the
Three Gorges Reservoir, Li said, adding the successful test shows that
generating units have coped well with the rising water level.
Currently,
more than 1.2 million people, or over 85 percent of those covered by
the
original plan, have been relocated to make way for the gigantic project
and rest will be resettled before the water level in the reservoir reaches 175
meters in 2008, one year earlier than scheduled.
Launched in 1993 and
being built at an estimated cost of 180 billion yuan (about 22.5 billion U.S.
dollars), the Three Gorges Project on the middle reaches of the Yangtze River,
China's longest, will eventually have 26 generators with a combined generating
capacity of 18.2 million kw and be able to generate 84.7 billion kwh of
electricity annually.
The other 12 generating units are still under
construction.
As of Sunday, the Three Gorges Project had generated over
138 billion khw of electricity. (For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)
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