Another generator fires up at Three Gorges project
The No.1 generator at the Three Gorges Project on the Yangtze River was connected to the power grid and began commercial operation Saturday morning.
All six of the first group of generators in the gigantic water control project are now generating power, 40 days ahead of schedule.
At 9am Saturday morning, the No.1 generator successfully completed a 72-hour trial run, and formally started operation. At 9:13am, the big screen at the central control center at the Three Gorges Power Plant showed that the six generators were transmitting more than 3.5 million kilowatts for the east China and central China power grids, as well as the power grids of southwest China's Chongqing municipality and Sichuan province.
Li Yong��an, Party Secretary of China Three Gorges Project Development Corporation, said, "We've finished the installation of six generators each with a capacity of 700,000 kilowatts. This is the world's fastest installation ever. Today, we are generating 3.5 million kilowatts as the biggest power plant in China."
The installation of the No.1 generator started last October and was completed 175 days earlier than the No.2 generator which was the first to begin formal power generation on July 10. The original construction schedule planned for only four generators to be installed this year. In fact, six generators are now in operation.
So far, the Three Gorges Project has generated 5.33 billion kilowatts of electricity. When the Project is completed in 2009 there will be 26 generators, able to generate 84.7 billion kilowatts a year.