The most powerful hydropower plant in the world. The ten most powerful HPPs in the world

China is the state with the largest population on the planet. In many ways, because of this, most of the projects implemented here are of a gigantic scale. One of the brightest of them became the "Three Gorges" - the largest hydroelectric power station and a concrete dam in the world. The facility was officially put into operation on July 4, 2012, and the process of its construction lasted just over twenty years.

general description

"Three Gorges" are built on the Yangtze River near the city of Sindoupin. According to the total capacity of all turbines, which reaches a mark of 22.5 gigawatts, they are significantly ahead of other major hydroelectric power stations in the world. Dimensions of the dam in length and height, respectively, are 2309x185 meters. For all time, about 23 billion US dollars have been invested in the project according to various estimates. Moreover, the authorities had to resettle 1.3 residents living in the area of construction. Along with the production of electricity, the facility provides protection of the valley from flooding in the Yangtze River Basin.

The idea of construction

Sun Yatsen, who is often called the revolutionary father of the Chinese nation, was the first to talk about erecting such a grandiose structure. In his work entitled "Plan for the reconstruction of China", published in 1920, it is mentioned the need to build a hydroelectric power plant with a capacity of 30 million horsepower in the canyon of Sanxia. The authorities did not begin to implement this plan until 1944, when John Savage, an American engineer who designed the world-famous Hoover Dam in his homeland, was invited to inspect the construction site. A year later he presented his project for erecting an object, which in the end was to lead the list of "The world's largest hydroelectric power stations". Its construction did not happen then, because a civil war broke out in the country.

Gezhouba

In the fifties of the last century, the Chinese authorities returned to the idea of building the "Three Gorges." Together with this, the construction of the facility provided for the creation of a large reservoir. This, in turn, necessitated the demolition of a large number of buildings and the relocation of almost two million inhabitants. Mao Zedong did not want to go for this and suggested building a lower power plant in the lower reaches of the river, the "Gezuba" power plant. However, the beginning of the implementation of this project was postponed for twenty years. Work on the construction of the hydroelectric power station was finally completed only in 1988. Its power was 2.7 gigawatts. At that time, this was quite enough for the state, however, the growth rate of the economy was constantly increasing, and therefore the industry of the country increasingly needed new sources of electricity.

Preparatory work

In the second half of the eighties of the last century, the PRC government returned to the idea of building the "Three Gorges." It is generally believed that the most powerful hydroelectric power station in the world began to be built in 1992. It was then that the preparatory work started. They provided for the preparation of the reservoir bed and the formation of infrastructure, including the construction of power lines and roads. The most significant problem was the resettlement to other regions of the country almost 1.3 local residents. In addition, it was required to disassemble all the buildings in the cities, which could in the future complicate the navigation. It should be noted that other major hydropower plants in the world were built with the same difficulties.

Building

After the completion of the preparatory works mentioned above, on May 14, 1994, Chinese engineers began the erection of a concrete dam. Her construction lasted 13 years. In comparison with the draft of the fifties, its height was lowered by 50 meters, as a result of which the size of the reservoir decreased. In parallel with the construction of the dam, other objects were erected. The most powerful hydroelectric power station in the world was equipped with 32 hydrounits of different power, which are installed not in one building, as is customary, but immediately in three (one of them is located underground). In addition, the builders created on the site immediately two strands of locks for five cameras. This made it possible to significantly simplify navigation, which in this place was previously almost impossible due to the geographical features of the Yangtze River.

Result

The world's most powerful hydroelectric power station surpasses 8.5 gigawatts of the previous record holder in this indicator - Itaipu HPP, located in Paraná. More than twenty years have elapsed since the start of the preparatory work and the commissioning of the last unit. During all this time, Chinese builders carried out a huge amount of work, which is estimated at 22.5 billion US dollars. The process of obtaining electricity in the "Three Gorges" is quite simple and typical for other similar facilities: water from the river gets into huge turbine blades, spins them up, which triggers the generators.

Disadvantages and problems

The main shortcoming, which has the world's most powerful hydroelectric power station, was revealed at the preparatory stage of its construction. It is connected not only with the resettlement of many people, but also with the fact that for the sake of economic and technological progress, the Chinese government has sacrificed the land of agricultural purpose of the gigantic area. Historians are disappointed by the flooding of important archaeological sites in the canyon of Sanxia, geographers constantly talk about future floods downstream, and environmentalists fear cutting down trees and extinction of rare species of animals. The largest potential catastrophe, which can be caused by the most powerful hydroelectric power station in the world, is the breakthrough of the dam. However, at present even skeptics acknowledge that alternative sources of electricity can not satisfy the demands of the developing economy of the state. Moreover, the facility provides employment for hundreds of thousands of local residents and attracts millions of tourists annually.

The other largest HPPs of the planet

The ten most powerful hydroelectric stations of the world in the order of increasing the main indicator is as follows.

The representative of Russia closes the rating. They are Boguchanskaya HPP located on Angara . Its power is 3 gigawatts.

Ninth place is located on the same river Ust-Ilimskaya HPP. The power of all its units is estimated at 3.84 gigawatts.

The next higher position belongs to the Bratsk hydro power plant with a capacity of 4.5 gigawatts.

In the seventh position is the representative of Canada - Churchill Falls. Its main feature is that the hydroelectric power plant does not have a dam and functions due to the natural slope of the surface. It was built on the site of a waterfall and named after the former prime minister of Britain. Its power is 5.43 gigawatts.

The sixth place is the Krasnoyarsk hydroelectric power station, which in total develops 6 gigawatts.

Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP is the largest in our country. It was built on the Yenisei, not far from Sayanogorsk city. Its maximum power is 6.4 gigawatts.

The fourth place belongs to the Tukuyuiskaya HPP, which is located in Brazil. It is named after the city, which was flooded during construction. The capacity of all installations is 8.3 gigawatts.

The three leaders are the Venezuelan hydropower plant named after Simon Bolivar. It is erected on the river Caroni and has a capacity of 10.3 gigawatts.

The rating for a long time was led by the Brazilian hydroelectric power plant Itaipu. The total capacity of all its installations is 14 gigawatts, which was a record indicator before the appearance of the "Three Gorges". This hydropower plant was built on the Paraná River. Now it takes the second place in the world rating.

The most powerful hydropower plant in the world is called the "Three Gorges" and is located on the Yangtze River. It was described in more detail above.