Baihetan hydropower station starts full operation

(ECNS) -- With its No. 9 generating unit finishing 72-hour trial operation, all units of the Baihetan hydropower station have entered operation in Southwest China on Tuesday, according to China Gezhouba Group Mechanical & Electrical Construction.

The hydropower station is located on the Jinsha River, the upper section of the Yangtze River, and straddles the southwestern provinces of Yunnan and Sichuan.

With a total installed capacity of 16 million kilowatts (kW), Baihetan is the world's second-largest such facility. It is equipped with 16 hydro-generating units, each with a capacity of 1 million kW, the largest single-unit capacity in the world.

When in full operation, the Baihetan project is expected to save approximately 19.68 million metric tons of standard coal and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 51.6 million metric tons annually.

The Baihetan hydropower station was officially put into use with two generating units in operation on June 28.