In summer, the heat in the Jinsha River Gorge hits people, and the Baihetan Hydropower Station stands majestically. The surging river water is converted into clean electricity here, and it only takes about 7 milliseconds to rush to the Jiangnan region 2,000 kilometers away through dense ultra-high voltage transmission lines, which can rush to the Jiangnan region 2,000 kilometers away, injecting a steady stream of power into the construction of a green and beautiful Yangtze River Delta.
▲ The world's largest clean energy corridor (file photo)
On June 28, 2021, General Secretary Xi Jinping sent a letter to congratulate the first batch of units of Baihetan Hydropower Station on safe and punctual commissioning for power generation. On December 31 of the following year, General Secretary Xi Jinping praised the Baihetan Hydropower Station for its full operation in his New Year's message, drawing a successful end to the completion of the world's largest clean energy corridor.
Back on April 24, 2018, General Secretary Xi Jinping visited the Three Gorges Dam in person to learn more about the construction of the Three Gorges Project, power generation, water conservancy, navigation, ecological protection and other aspects. He emphatically pointed out: "The real great power must be in our own hands. ”
Yin Yin entrusted, and the words are still in my ears. The important weapon of the country, carrying national security and core interests; The greatness of the country is related to the overall development and the foundation of the cause.
Today, six cascade hydropower stations stand majestically on the Yangtze River, defending flood control, water supply, shipping, ecological and energy security, and providing a solid guarantee for promoting the comprehensive green transformation of the social economy.
Defend the heavy weapons of a great country and maintain the Anlan Yangtze River
78,000 cubic meters per second!
This is the inflow of the "Yangtze River Flood No. 5 of 2020" on August 20, 2020, when it arrived at the Three Gorges Project, and it is also the largest flood peak since the construction of the Three Gorges Reservoir.
▲ Three Gorges Dam flood discharge Photo: Tang Wei
The country's important weapon, people's livelihood is great. In line with the principle of "people first, life first", the Three Gorges Corporation strictly implemented the dispatch instructions of the Yangtze River Water Conservancy Committee of the Ministry of Water Resources, controlled the discharge flow of the Three Gorges Project at 49,200 cubic meters per second, and the peak shaving rate reached 34.4 percent, giving full play to the role of the Three Gorges Project in flood control, peak shaving, and peak staggering, effectively reducing the flood control pressure in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and ensuring the safety of people's lives and property.
The focus of flood control on the Yangtze River is in the middle and lower reaches, and the Three Gorges Reservoir is not only the core of the upstream cascade reservoir, but also the "master switch" to control the water flow from the middle and lower reaches.
As a key backbone project of the Yangtze River flood control system, the Three Gorges Project has carried out flood control dispatch 66 times, with a total flood control of more than 200 billion cubic meters. Now, with the official completion of the world's largest clean energy corridor, the six cascade power stations in the main stream of the Yangtze River, led by the Three Gorges Project, carry the important mission of protecting the Yangtze River Anlan, and the total flood control capacity of Wudongde, Baihetan, Xiluodu, Xiangjiaba and Three Gorges Reservoir is as high as 37.64 billion cubic meters, accounting for 53.3% of the total flood control capacity of the joint dispatch control reservoir in the Yangtze River basin in 2024, fundamentally changing the flood control situation in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.
The country's most important weapon can withstand the ravages of floods and alleviate the plight of droughts.
After the 2022 flood, the Yangtze River basin continued to be dry. While taking into account flood control safety and power supply, the Three Gorges Reservoir continued to increase the discharge volume and replenish water to the downstream, alleviating the dilemma of low water level in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River to a certain extent.
On April 24, 2018, General Secretary Xi Jinping spoke highly of the Three Gorges Project as "one symbol and three models".
High hopes are like mountains, urging people to forge ahead. Qianjun entrusts it to become the general beacon for the Three Gorges people to break the waves.
Liu Weiping, chairman and party secretary of the Three Gorges Corporation, said: "We must seize the opportunity to actively apply digital and intelligent technologies, strengthen the deep integration of the new generation of information technology with hub operation and power production, and promote large-scale hydropower to move forward in the direction of green, intelligent and high-end." ”
In recent years, the Three Gorges Corporation has given full play to the advantages of the joint commissioning of reservoirs in the main stream of the Yangtze River to comprehensively improve the utilization capacity of water resources in the six cascade reservoirs in the basin.
In the 1 million square kilometers of the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, more than 600 water telemetry stations are like a pair of keen "clairvoyants", collecting water and rain data in real time for the cascade hub.
On the large screen of the Three Gorges Ladder Adjustment Center, various charts and data streams are constantly refreshed, and platforms such as the cascade reservoir joint optimization scheduling model and the intelligent evaluation system of the dispatching scheme are jointly "actuarial", which realizes the rapid solution of comprehensive elements such as flood control, shipping, ecology and power generation of the cascade reservoir.
In the six power plant buildings, technicians only need to use the power plant operation management information system (ePMS) of mobile phones or tablets to complete various tasks including equipment maintenance, operation scheduling, safety and reliability monitoring, and use digital means to realize lean operation, careful maintenance and accurate scheduling of large and heavy equipment......
In April 2024, the industrial Internet platform was deployed in six cascade hydropower stations in the main stream of the Yangtze River, marking the basic completion of the world's largest clean energy corridor "Industrial Brain". "The global collaborative optimization of the six cascade power stations is a world-class problem, and we rely on advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence and big data models to build an 'industrial brain' of hydropower to ensure the long-term safe and stable operation of the cascade power stations." Tang Zhengyang, deputy director of the Yangtze River Electric Power Science and Technology Research Center of the Three Gorges Corporation, said.
Make good use of the heavy equipment of the big country to provide green kinetic energy
Achieving the goal of "dual carbon" is a major national strategy. General Secretary Xi Jinping has given Wudongde and Baihetan hydropower stations a strategic positioning as "major national projects", emphasizing the need to "make greater contributions to achieving the goals of carbon peak and carbon neutrality and promoting the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development".
▲ Baihetan Hydropower Station (data picture)
Keeping in mind the entrustment, the people of the Three Gorges proceeded from the Three Gorges Project, traced the river upstream, and built one "Three Gorge" after another. On December 20, 2022, the last unit of Baihetan Hydropower Station completed 72 hours of trial operation and was officially put into operation for power generation. So far, the world's largest clean energy corridor has been fully completed on the Yangtze River.
This corridor spans 1,800 kilometers, with a total installed capacity of 71.695 million kilowatts and an average annual power generation of 300 billion kilowatt hours. The completion of the world's largest clean energy corridor has effectively alleviated the tightening of power supply and demand in the receiving regions, further increased the proportion of clean and low-carbon power supply in the region, and provided green energy guarantee for high-quality economic and social development.
▲ Wudongde Hydropower Station (data picture)
As of February 16, 2024, the cumulative power generation capacity of the six cascade power stations has exceeded 3.5 trillion kWh, which is equivalent to saving more than 1 billion tons of standard coal and reducing carbon dioxide emissions by more than 2.8 billion tons, providing strong momentum for the green development of the mainland's economy and society.
A number of big countries have risen from the ground, and the "golden waterway" of the Yangtze River has also released stronger green kinetic energy.
Over 172 million tons!
This is the annual freight volume of the Three Gorges Hub in 2023, a year-on-year increase of 7.95%, another record high.
Since the ancient river, the river has never sailed at night. Before the completion of the Three Gorges Project, the Yangtze River's narrow and turbulent course from Yichang in Hubei Province to Chongqing made it extremely challenging for ships to navigate, and it was even less navigable at night, resulting in the annual freight volume of the Yangtze River being much lower than that of similar rivers in the world.
"After the impoundment of the Three Gorges Reservoir, the average water depth of the Sichuan River channel has increased by about 40 meters, the main shoals have been submerged, the scale of the main channel in the reservoir area has increased significantly, the channel conditions have been improved, the navigation has become safer, and the shipping efficiency has been greatly improved." He Wei, a 60-year-old captain of the China Yangtze River Shipping Group, said.
By the end of 2023, the Three Gorges Locks have been operating safely and efficiently for 20 years, with a cumulative cargo volume of more than 2 billion tons, and if these goods are filled with 40-foot containers, they can circle the Earth's equator more than 23 times from end to end. The Three Gorges ship lift has been operating safely, stably and efficiently for more than 7 years, with a cumulative cargo volume of more than 14.85 million tons and more than 990,000 passengers, giving full play to the role of a fast dam crossing channel. The Xiangjiaba ship lift has been operating safely for more than 5 years, with a cumulative freight volume of more than 7.45 million tons.
▲ Three Gorges double-line five-level lock Photo: Tang Wei
Today, the Qianlixia River has become a "water highway" connecting the development of China's eastern, central and western regions, accelerating the rapid development of upstream water transport and the economy along the river.
On the Yangtze River waterway, where hundreds of ships compete and thousands of sails compete, there are two ships that are particularly "conspicuous" - the world's largest pure electric cruise ship "Three Gorges 1" and the mainland's first hydrogen fuel cell power demonstration ship "Three Gorges Hydrogen Boat 1".
▲ The maiden voyage of the "Three Gorges Hydrogen Boat 1" Photo: Tang Wei
These two new green ships are jointly developed and built by the Three Gorges Corporation and a number of units, which are driven by electric energy and hydrogen energy respectively, and have the characteristics of "zero noise, zero pollution and zero emission", which are of positive significance for promoting the process of "electrifying the Yangtze River" and "hydrogenating the Yangtze River", accelerating the low-carbon and green development of inland waterway shipping, and adding further impetus to the green transformation of transportation in the Yangtze River Basin.
"Chain" is a good big country and heavy equipment to lead the development of the industry
In a congratulatory letter to the first batch of units of the Baihetan Hydropower Station on the Jinsha River, General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed the need to make greater contributions to promoting the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development.
On May 31, 2021, the Baihetan Dam was poured to the top, and a giant structure with a maximum dam height of 289 meters and a crest arc length of 709 meters stood on the Jinsha River.
▲On May 31, 2021, the dam of the Baihetan Hydropower Station Project was poured to the top Photo: Huang Zhengping
The majestic dam is made up of a material called "low-heat cement concrete", which can effectively reduce the heat generation of concrete and improve the crack safety ability of concrete.
"The Three Gorges Corporation took the lead in adopting new low-heat cement concrete technology in the whole dam of Wudongde and Baihetan extra-high arch dams, which provided important technical support for the construction of concrete projects including 'seamless dams'." Zhang Chaoran, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and former chief engineer of the Three Gorges Corporation, introduced.
The huge demand for low-heat cement concrete in the two giant hydropower stations has driven the development of raw material supply chain technology of related manufacturers, and improved product quality standards and supply capacity. The research and development of low-heat cement concrete and complete sets of application technologies have strongly promoted the transformation of low-heat cement scientific research achievements and engineering applications, and opened up the last mile of the innovation chain and industrial chain.
On August 27, 2022, at the World Clean Energy Equipment Conference, the world's largest single-unit capacity million-kilowatt hydro-generator model was unveiled, attracting countless attention.
Also "absorbing the sunshine" is the host city of the conference, Deyang City, Sichuan Province. It is rare for a non-provincial capital city to host a world-class event and show the strength of equipment manufacturing to the world.
The answer is just three years ago - on January 12, 2019, the first workshop of Deyang Dongfang Electric Co., Ltd. was ready to go, and after 24 processes and 12 months of processing, the first million-kilowatt high-quality runner on the left bank of Baihetan Hydropower Station independently developed by China was officially completed here.
The development of million-kilowatt units is based on the practice of localizing units of hydropower stations such as the Three Gorges and Xiluodu. "In the right bank power station of the Three Gorges Project, we boldly adopt the stator and rotor all-air ventilation cooling technology; At the Xiluodu Hydropower Station, we have successfully developed a 200-meter head section of the turbine,......" said Li Bin, chairman and secretary of the party committee of the Three Gorges Construction Engineering Group, a subsidiary of the Three Gorges Corporation.
"With the help of major hydropower, thermal power, wind power and other power generation equipment projects, Dongfang Boiler, Dongfang Steam Turbine and Dongfang Motor, which are also subsidiaries of Dongfang Electric Group, have formed a complete industrial chain of power station equipment in Deyang." Zeng Xiaoping, deputy general manager of Dongfang Electric Group Dongfang Electric Co., Ltd., introduced.
Increasing the strength of the chain to supplement the chain and extend the chain will help promote industrial transformation and upgrading. The large-scale application of low-heat cement concrete and the development of million-kilowatt hydropower units are a microcosm of the Three Gorges Group's "research and usefulness" in recent years. Through the R&D and application of new materials, new technologies and new standards, CTG has not only formed the core technology of large-scale hydropower construction and operation, but also promoted the development of the whole industrial chain.
When General Secretary Xi Jinping inspected the Three Gorges Project, he sent an affectionate message: "I hope that we will work together and work together to realize the Chinese dream with more than 1.3 billion Chinese." In a letter to congratulate the first batch of units of the Baihetan Hydropower Station on their safe and punctual commissioning for power generation, the general secretary once again emphasized: "Socialism is made by hard work, and the new era is born of struggle. ”
Those who travel a hundred miles are half ninety, this ancient adage reveals the importance of perseverance. In the face of the new situation, new tasks and new requirements, the Three Gorges Corporation will keep in mind the entrustment, continue to struggle, operate and manage the major weapons of the country with higher standards and higher quality, better play the role of security support and basic support, and strive to make new and greater contributions to the construction of a strong country and national rejuvenation.
The author of this article is Xiang Shan and Sun Yufang