NDRC Approves Baishi Hydropower Station on Yuanshui River

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The National Development and Reform Commission has approved plans for the Tuokou hydropower station on the Yuanshui River. The station will be the fifth project in the cascade development scheme mainstream of the river. The plant's main function will be power generation with other benefits, such as improved river navigation, tourism and the creation of a fishery.

The station will have four 200-megawatt (MW) Francis turbine-generating unitS. The power station is also planned with two small 15 MW units designed to maintain a minimum ecological flow on the river. The plant's total installed capacity will be 830 MW, and the annual average power output will be 2.131 billion kilowatt-hours.

The station comprises a main dam at Dongyousi (including spillway), two auxiliary dams at Baituchong and Wangmaxi, a river-bed type powerhouse, a navigation facility, as well as the river bend seepage control project with a total investment of $686 million. The project will be built and operated by Huaihua Yuanshui River Power Development Company, a company jointly invested by Wuling Power Company Limited (Changsha, China), a subsidiary of China Power Investment Corporation (Beijing), and the Mid-south Design & Research Institute (Changsha, China), a subsidiary of China Hydropower Engineering Consultancy Corporation (CHECC) (Beijing). The Mid-South Design & Research Institute of CHECC is responsible for the project's design and survey.

In February 2007, the station's feasibility study was approved. Pre-stage preparations have been completed, and construction is expected to start later this year. The total construction period will be about 48 months.

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