Jinping-I Hydropower Station

BW

Jinping I is a large property under construction hydroelectric power project on the Yalong Jiang in Sichuan in southwest China. It is also called the Jinping 1st Cascade or Jinping No.1 Hydropower Station. The dam also serves the flood protection and retention of sediments.

The project aims to deliver energy from the economically weaker west to the densely populated eastern China. The Jinping - power plant is located on the border between the circle and the Yanyuan Autonomous County of Muli Tibetan Autonomous County in Liangshan Yi in Sichuan Province. The Yalong is the largest tributary of the Jinsha and very rich in water.

The main building will be a 300 m high arch dam, to which a 3600 - megawatt power plant is connected. Another source is the height of the dam to even 305 m. In both cases it will be the highest or one of the two highest dams of the earth, as the Rogun dam is not finished with 335 m height. Previously the Nurek Dam is 300 meters high.

The power plant will have six sets, each with 600 MW, 3600 MW together. It is one of China's large hydropower projects that are currently under construction or in the planning stage, and of which the Three Gorges Project is the most famous. Twelve of these plants together will deliver 22,850 MW. ( The 18,200 MW of the Three Gorges project are obviously not included. ) The Ertan Dam, also with 3300 MW is already finished. The Jinping II project is to follow later; it will again have 4700 MW capacity. The annual electricity production of Jinping I is given as 16.62, or 18.2 TWh ( billion kWh).

Construction began on 12 November 2005. It is expected that in 2012 the first power can be generated and the remaining tasks are completed by 2014. The company Thyssen supplied cable crane for the site.