China Huadian's 2,000-Megawatt Ahai Hydropower Station on Jinsha River Receives Approval

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The 2,000-megawatt (MW) Ahai Hydropower Station, which is on the middle reaches of the Jinsha River, recently received final approval from the National Development and Reform Commission, China Huadian Corporation (Beijing) announced on January 18, 2011.

Ahai Hydropower Station, which is at the boundary of Yulong County and Ninglang County in Lijiang City, in the Yunnan province, is the fourth project of the eight-step cascade development scheme, which has a total capacity of 20.58 gigawatts. The project is planned for the middle stream of the Jinsha River, and is connected to the Liyuan Hydropower Project upstream and Jin'anqiao Hydropower Project downstream. The main purpose of the project will be power generation with diversified benefits in irrigation, water supply and flood control. The project mainly comprises a 140-meter-high roll-and-compact concrete (RCC) gravity dam, which will form a reservoir with a total storage capacity of 885 million cubic meters, under normal pool level (NPL) of 1,504 meters above sea level, to support a powerhouse that will be furnished with five Francis hydraulic-turbine generating units, each of 400 MW. Total investment in the project will be about $1.5 billion.

Yunnan Jinsha River Hydropower Company Limited (Kunming, Yunnan), a joint venture of China Huadian Corporation (33%), China Huaneng Group (Beijing) (23%), China Datang Corporation (Beijing) (23%), Hanergy Holding Group (Beijing) (11%) and Yunnan Investment Group (Kunming, Yunnan) (10%), is responsible for the construction and future operation of the project.

Preparation for the project kicked off in early November 2002, following the approval of the eight-step cascade development scheme for the middle stream of Jinsha River in April 2002. River diversion of the project was achieved in late 2008, but the project was not approved until January 2011 due to concerns in environmental protection.

According to the schedule, first unit the project will begin operation in 2012, and the whole project will be completed in 2013.

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