Throughput of Three Gorges Dam hits 75.54 mln tonnes in H1

Photo taken on June 20, 2021 shows the ship lock of the Three Gorges Dam in central China's Hubei Province. (Photo by Xiang Hongmei/Xinhua)

WUHAN, July 2 (Xinhua) -- In the first half of this year (H1), the throughput of the Three Gorges Dam, the world's largest hydropower project, exceeded 75.54 million tonnes, according to the Three Gorges Navigation Authority.

Despite the severe weather conditions and the 35-day suspension of the dam's northern ship lock due to maintenance, the throughput of the project witnessed a year-on-year increase of 8.74 percent, said the authority.

According to the authority, the dam's five-tier ship locks saw a record daily throughput of 578,100 tonnes on May 2 and a record daily operation frequency of 35 times on April 21.

In H1, a total of 19,706 ships passed through the ship locks at the Three Gorges Dam, increasing the throughput by 4.75 percent to 72.77 million tonnes.

In the same period, the dam's ship lift registered a throughput of 2.78 million tonnes.

The Three Gorges project, which became operational in 2003, consists of a dam measuring 2,309 meters long and 185 meters high, and five-tier ship locks on the northern and southern sides.

In 2020, the Three Gorges Hydroelectric Power Station generated 111.8 billion kWh, a new world record.