Asset specification
Baihetan — key facts
All verified data · Three Gorges Corporation Annual Report 2023 · NEA China
GPS coordinates
27.22°N
102.89°E
102.89°E
Installed capacity
16,000 MW
Annual generation
~62.4 TWh/yr
Turbine units
16 × 1,000 MW Francis
Dam height
289 metres
Dam type
Arch dam
Reservoir
20.67 bn m³
Full commissioning
Dec 2022
Construction cost
~CNY 223 bn
~$34 billion
~$34 billion
UHVDC transmission
2 lines
2,000+ km east
2,000+ km east
Developer
Three Gorges
Corporation
Corporation
River
Jinsha
(upper Yangtze)
(upper Yangtze)
Engineering achievement
The 1,000 MW turbines — the world's largest hydro units
Why 1,000 MW is extraordinary:
Each of Baihetan's 16 Francis turbine-generator units produces 1,000 MW — the equivalent of a large nuclear reactor from a single spinning machine. Before Baihetan, the largest single hydro unit was 700 MW at Three Gorges (30.82°N 111.00°E). The engineering challenges at 1,000 MW scale: (1) The turbine runner (the spinning wheel that water pushes) has a diameter of approximately 9 metres and weighs approximately 350 tonnes. (2) At full load, each turbine passes approximately 1,000 cubic metres of water per second — a flow rate equivalent to a medium-sized river. (3) The generator's rotor diameter exceeds 16 metres. (4) Manufacturing tolerances must be held to fractions of a millimetre on components this large. Chinese manufacturers Dongfang Electric and Harbin Electric both supplied units — the first time China has domestically manufactured hydro units of this scale, replacing the foreign manufacturer dependence that characterised Three Gorges. Source: Three Gorges Corporation Technical Reports 2022.
Each of Baihetan's 16 Francis turbine-generator units produces 1,000 MW — the equivalent of a large nuclear reactor from a single spinning machine. Before Baihetan, the largest single hydro unit was 700 MW at Three Gorges (30.82°N 111.00°E). The engineering challenges at 1,000 MW scale: (1) The turbine runner (the spinning wheel that water pushes) has a diameter of approximately 9 metres and weighs approximately 350 tonnes. (2) At full load, each turbine passes approximately 1,000 cubic metres of water per second — a flow rate equivalent to a medium-sized river. (3) The generator's rotor diameter exceeds 16 metres. (4) Manufacturing tolerances must be held to fractions of a millimetre on components this large. Chinese manufacturers Dongfang Electric and Harbin Electric both supplied units — the first time China has domestically manufactured hydro units of this scale, replacing the foreign manufacturer dependence that characterised Three Gorges. Source: Three Gorges Corporation Technical Reports 2022.
The Jinsha River cascade — combined 46,460 MW:
Baihetan is one of four dams on the lower Jinsha River (Jinsha = Golden Sand River — the upper Yangtze above Yibin). The complete cascade from upstream to downstream: Wudongde (26.82°N 102.67°E, 10,200 MW, commissioned 2020–2021), Baihetan (27.22°N 102.89°E, 16,000 MW, 2021–2022), Xiluodu (28.26°N 103.63°E, 13,860 MW, 2013–2014 — was world's 3rd largest when completed), Xiangjiaba (28.64°N 104.44°E, 6,448 MW, 2012–2014). Total cascade capacity: 46,460 MW. Together these four dams generate more electricity than France's entire nuclear fleet. All power is transmitted via UHVDC lines to eastern China. The cascade required the relocation of approximately 1.3 million people — one of the largest infrastructure displacement programmes in history alongside Three Gorges itself. Source: Yangtze Power Annual Report 2023.
Baihetan is one of four dams on the lower Jinsha River (Jinsha = Golden Sand River — the upper Yangtze above Yibin). The complete cascade from upstream to downstream: Wudongde (26.82°N 102.67°E, 10,200 MW, commissioned 2020–2021), Baihetan (27.22°N 102.89°E, 16,000 MW, 2021–2022), Xiluodu (28.26°N 103.63°E, 13,860 MW, 2013–2014 — was world's 3rd largest when completed), Xiangjiaba (28.64°N 104.44°E, 6,448 MW, 2012–2014). Total cascade capacity: 46,460 MW. Together these four dams generate more electricity than France's entire nuclear fleet. All power is transmitted via UHVDC lines to eastern China. The cascade required the relocation of approximately 1.3 million people — one of the largest infrastructure displacement programmes in history alongside Three Gorges itself. Source: Yangtze Power Annual Report 2023.
Questions
Questions about Baihetan
How does Baihetan transmit power 2,000 km east without massive losses?
Baihetan uses UHVDC (Ultra High Voltage Direct Current) transmission at ±800 kV — one of the most advanced electricity transmission technologies in the world. Conventional AC transmission at 220 kV over 2,000 km would lose approximately 30–40% of the electricity in resistive heating. UHVDC at ±800 kV reduces losses to approximately 7–8% over the same distance. The physics: DC transmission has no reactive power losses (unlike AC), and higher voltage means lower current for the same power (P = V×I), which means lower resistive losses (heat = I²×R). The Baihetan–Jiangsu UHVDC line (2,087 km, ±800 kV, 8,000 MW) and Baihetan–Zhejiang line (2,121 km, ±800 kV, 8,000 MW) are two of the world's longest and highest-capacity DC transmission lines. China operates more UHVDC transmission than the rest of the world combined — a technological lead built over 20 years of deliberate investment. The converter stations at each end (AC to DC at the dam, DC to AC at the destination) are large and expensive — typically $500 million each — but the economics work because the alternative (shipping coal to coastal power plants) is more expensive over these distances. Source: State Grid Corporation of China technical reports · CIGRE UHVDC transmission review 2024.
Provenance
Attribution and citation
- Sources
- Three Gorges Corporation (Sanxia) Annual Report 2023 · China NEA · IHA World Hydropower Outlook 2023 · Yangtze Power Annual Report 2023 · State Grid UHVDC technical reports
- Cite as
- "Baihetan Dam — World's Second-Largest Power Station", The Energy Codex, https://thecodex.expert/energy/water/baihetan/, last updated .