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Crane Installation Begins at Three Gorges Project
Chinese workers Wednesday started to install two cranes at the site of the Three Gorges Dam, now under construction on the middle reaches of the Yangtze River.
The cranes will be used to help install generators at the gigantic water control project in the future.
The installation of the cranes is part of the efforts to ensure that the first group of generators with the massive hydropower project will be able to generate electricity by the year of 2003, said an engineer with the Yangtze River Three Gorges Development Corporation.
The cranes, made by Taiyuan Heavy-Duty Co. Ltd. of north China's Shanxi Province, are the biggest in the world in terms of hoisting capability and span.
Each crane has a gross weight of 1,000 tons, and has a three- beam structure, with the main beam being 35 m in length, 15.45 m in width and 3.6 m in height.
The two cranes will be ready for service by late October.
Construction on the Three Gorges Project, the world's largest hydropower project, located near Yichang in central China's Hubei Province, began in 1993 with estimated investment standing at 50. 09 billion yuan (about 6.04 billion U.S. dollars) upon completion in 2009.
The project consists of a 1,983-meter long and 185-meter high dam and 26 generating units with a combined capacity of 18.2 million kw and an annual output of 84.7 billion kwh. Its permanent lock can accommodate ships with total 10,000 dwt.
The construction schedule calls for the permanent ship lock to be put into service in 2003 and the first group of generators to begin operation the same year. The project's reservoir will be ready for water storage in June of 2003.
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