Guandi Hydropower Station on Yalong River Begins Full Operations

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Beijing, China)--The last 600-megawatt (MW) unit (Unit 4) of Yalong River Hydropower Development Company Limited's (Chengdu, Sichuan) Guandi Hydropower Station passed the 72-hour continuous, full-load trial operation and was put into commercial operation on March 25, 2013. This is the first gigawatt-level, large-scale hydropower station commissioned in the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15) in the Sichuan province, according to an announcement from the Power Construction Corporation of China (PCCC) (Beijing), the project designer and contractor, on March 28, 2013.

As a key project in the nation's program to transmit power eastward, the Guandi Hydropower Station is the third step of the five-step cascade development scheme planned on the Yalong River, a major tributary of the Changjiang River, in wouthwest China's Sichuan province. The power station is furnished with four Francis-type hydraulic turbine generating units, each of 600 MW, with a total installed capacity of 2,400 MW.

Construction of the project kicked off in late 2007. The first unit (Unit 1) was commissioned in March 2012. Units 2 and 3 also were put into operation ahead of schedule in 2012. Through 8 years of construction, the project was finally put into full operation in the first quarter of 2013. According to the design, the project will be able to generate about 11.78 billion kilowatt-hours of clean electricity every year, which is equivalent to about 3.89 million metric tons of standard coal. In addition, compared with conventional coal-fired power plants, the project also could reduce the emission of about 80,000 metric tons of sulfur dioxide and 8.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide every year.

Erection of Unit 4, which is the last unit, kicked off in October 2012. Through the joint efforts of Sinohydro Engineering Bureau 7 (Chengdu, Sichuan), the mechanical and electrical installation contractor of the project, and HydroChina Chengdu Engineering Corporation (Chengdu, Sichuan), the project designer, trial operation of the unit began on March 22, 2013.

As a joint venture of the State Development and Investment Corporation (SDIC) (Beijing) and Sichuan Investment Corporation (Chengdu, Sichuan), Yalong River Hydropower is the only enterprise responsible for the entire river valley development of the Yalong River. Following the completion of Guandi Hydropower Station, Yalong River Hydropower has been shifted from the management of single power station to the operation of power station group along the river. According to plans, by the end of 2015, the total installed capacity of Yalong River Hydropower will be expanded to 14.7 GW.

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