Logistics of the Three Gorges Dam

  • Construction began in 1994

  • World's Largest Hydroelectric Plant

  • 2,309 meters (7,575 ft) long, and 101 meters (331 ft) high.

    27,200,000 cubic meters (35,600,000 cu yd) of concrete

    Estimated cost: 180 billion yuan just under 30 billion USD.

    cost of construction will be recovered when the dam has generated 1,000 TWh of electricity,  should take about 10 years

     When the water level is maximum over sea level the reservoir created by the Three Gorges Dam is about 660 kilometers (410 mi) in length and 1.12 kilometers (0.70 mi) in width on average

    total surface area of the reservoir is 1,045 km².

  • Completed in 2004

  • when operating at maximum designed output it generates 18,300 MW

    as of September 9, 2009 has generated 348.4 TWh of electricity

  • 1/3 of the 1,000 TWh it needs to generate to cover the cost of building it

  • total electric generating capacity of the dam will eventually reach 22,500 MW


Issues Surrounding the Dam

Environmental issues:

  • Decreasing quality of water

  • dam prevents dispersal of pollutants

    algal blooms and eutrophication

  • Rising water in reservoir leads to landslides in surrounding areas

  • tens of billions of yuan had been spent to prevent pollution and geological disasters:

  • tree planting

  • shutting 1500 polluting industrial and mining enterprises

  • building 70 sewage and waste treatment plants

  • decreased biodiversity:

  • critically endangered Siberian Crane spend the winter in wetlands that will be destroyed by the Three Gorges Dam

  •  

    contributed to the functional extinction of the Baiji Yangtze river dolphin (the population is no longer viable)

  • 57 percent of its plant species are endangered.

  • freshwater fish are especially affected by dams due to changes in the water temperature and flow regime.

  • other fish are hurt in the turbine blades

  • downstream erosion, upstream sedimentation

  • logging in the area adds to erosion upstream

  • build up of silt in the reservoir

  • reduces silt transported to the Yangtze Delta

  • reduces effectiveness of the dam for electricity generation

  • lack of silt deposited in the peninsula

  • erosion and sinking of coastal areas

  • biodiversity could decrease without silt

  • downstream riverbanks could become more vulnerable to flooding 


Effect on local culture

  • Flooding has/will continue to cover 1300 archaeological sites

  • the hanging coffins in the Shen Nong Gorge

  • has displaced 1.24 million people 


Success of the Dam

Yhanze River used to flood

  • 1954, killed 33,169 people, forced 18,884,000 people to move

  • 1998, killed 1,526 affected more than 2.3 million people

Generates 3% of China's Energy

  • power production is equivalent to 84 million tons of standard coal

  • reduces carbon dioxide emission by 190 million tons,

  • sulfur dioxide by 2.29 million tons, and nitrogen oxides by 980,000 tons