Zaoshi Water-Control Project Begins Operation in Central China's Hunan Province

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The first unit of the Zaoshi Water-Control Project, a key project in China's 10th five-year plan (2001-05), passed a 72-hour trial and went into commercial operation on April 23, 2008, in central China's Hunan Province. The $464 million project, located downstream of the Dieshui River, a tributary of the Lishui River in Shimen County, is a large-scale project with flood control as its main function, along with power generation and other benefits, such as navigation, urban water supply, irrigation and tourism.

The project has a total installed capacity of 120 megawatts (MW) with two 60 MW hydraulic turbine generating units, a total reservoir capacity of 1.44 billion cubic meters and an annual average power output of 333 gigawatt-hours. The project comprises an 88-meter-tall roller-compacted concrete gravity dam, a right bank riverbed powerhouse, irrigation canals at both banks, and an incline shiplift at the right bank.

Construction on the project officially began in February 2004. In May 2007, the rotor of first unit was successfully lifted to the pit and erected to its final position. In October 2007, reservoir-impounding was started, and on April 2, 2008, the unit went into commissioning. The entire project could be complete this year.

Commercial operation of the project will greatly alleviate the shortage of flood control, and irrigation and power supply in western Hunan Province. Through combined operation with the existing Jiangya Reservoir, the flood control standard in the Lishui River could be improved from 4-7 years to 30-50 years, greatly improving the capability against floods in the Lishui River Valley and the entire Dongting Lake area.

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