Xiluodu Dam

BW

The Xiluodu Dam in the provinces of Sichuan and Yunnan in southwestern China at Jinsha Jiang (English: Golden Sands River ), a tributary of the Yangtze River in its upper reaches, is a large dam under construction. The dam will be one of the highest dams of the earth with a height of 278 m for completion around 2015.

The construction of the arch dam concrete should have started in December 2005. In January 2005, the project, which will cost five to eight billion dollars was initially stopped because the environmental impact had not been examined sufficiently. According to the construction schedule, the river was cut off in November 2007 and produced the first electricity in June 2013. On July 16, 2013, the power plant was officially put into operation.

The hydropower plant will upon completion have a capacity of at least 12,600 megawatts. This would make it the second largest hydroelectric power station in China after the Three Gorges project and the world's third largest. The China Yangtze Three Gorges Project Development Corp.. plans on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, three more gigantic hydropower plants, namely Wudongde that Baihetan Dam and Xiangjiabai. The total capacity of the four power plants should be more than twice that of the Three Gorges project with 38,500 megawatts.

The Xiluodu dam is designed to help prevent the reservoir of the Three Gorges project silted. It is expected that the sludge load is reduced by one third. Any other intended purposes of the dam are irrigation, navigability and flood protection.

By the lake some of the most spectacular canyons and gorges of the earth will be flooded.