Construction of main struction project completes at Wudongde hydropower plant

China Three Gorges Corporation (CTG) announced that it has completed the dam construction of Wudongde hydropower plant on June 11, marking the end of the main project for what will be the world's first 300-meter low-heat cement concrete arch dam.

The concrete dam, built and operated by CTG, can be divided into 15 section. It requires a total concrete pouring of more than 2.7 million cubic meters. The dam has a thickness-to-height ratio of just 0.19, making it the thinnest 300-meter arch dams ever built globally.

As the back-bone power source of the West-East Electricity Transmission Project, Wudongde hydropower plant is mainly designed for electricity generation. However, the dam is also used for flood mitigation, shipping and promoting local economic and social development.

It installs 12 hydropower generating units, each with a capacity of 850,000 kilowatts, and a total capacity of 10.2 million kilowatts. Once operational, the plant will play a significant role in meeting national energy consumption requirements, achieving emissions reduction and energy conservation.

In addition, the plant will play a vital role in the environmental protection of the Yangtze River and help boost the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt.

The plant is scheduled to put into operation its first batch of generating units in July 2020 and go into full operation next year. Upon completion, Wudongde hydropower plant will be the fourth-largest hydropower plant in China and the seventh-largest in the world.