Two 700-megawatt units begin operation at Three Gorges

BEIJING, CHINA - Units 16 and 19 of the Right Bank Power Station in the Three Gorges Project recently began operation after successfully completing trial operation, the China Three Gorges Project Corporation (Yichang) announced.

Unit 16 was manufactured by Dongfeng Electrical Corporation and set up by the Mechanical & Electrical Engineering Company of China Gezhouba Group Corporation. Unit 19 was manufactured by Alstom France and set up by the Fourth Engineering Bureau of Sinohydro Corporation. This is the first time that two units were handed over to the Three Gorges Power Plant within one month.

Twelve 700-megawatt (MW) units are planned for the power station. So far, 10 of the units are in operation, and Units 15 and 23 are currently being erected. The units are expected to go into operation this year. Unit 15 will also be manufactured by Dongfeng Electrical, and Unit 23 will be manufactured by Harbin Electric Works (Heilongjiang). The erection and commissioning of the two units have been contracted to the Mechanical & Electrical Engineering Company.

There are now 24 700-MW units operating in the Three Gorges Project. In addition to the two 50-MW units in the security-source plant, the total installed capacity of Three Gorges is 16,900 MW.