Three Gorges – The biggest Dam In The World

The Three Gorges Dam is a hydroelectric river dam that spans the Yangtze River in Sandouping, Yichang, Hubei, China.

• It is the largest hydro-electric power station in the world. Except the ship lift, all the original plan of the project was completed on Oct. 30, 2008, when the 26th generator was brought to commerical operation. Six additional generators in the underground power plant are being installed, with the dam thus not expected to become fully operational until about 2012.

• The project used 27,200,000 cubic metres (35,600,000 cu yd) of concrete, 463,000 tonnes of steel, enough to build 63 Eiffel Towers, and moved about 102,600,000 cubic metres (1.342E+8 cu yd) of earth

• When finished, the project will have cost 180 billion yuan, over 20 billion yuan less than the initial estimated budget of 203.9 billion yuan, just under 30 billion USD

• “Three Gorges” dam rises to 300 meters above the water level in the Yangtze River.

• The total electric generating capacity of the dam will reach 22,500 MW.

• The wall is 115 metres (377.3 ft) thick on the bottom and 40 metres (131.2 ft) thick on top
• The dam wall is made of concrete and is about 2,309 metres (7,575 ft) long, and 101 metres (331 ft) high.

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