Posted on 07/12/2003 9:17:30 AM PDT by blam
China dam switches on power
China's Three Gorges Dam, the world's largest water control project, has begun generating electricity.
China says it badly needs the electricity the dam will generate The first of the dam's 26 generators to go into operation was connected to the power grid at 0131 local time on Thursday (1831 GMT on Wednesday), 20 days ahead of schedule, Xinhua news agency reported.
The generating unit will supply 12.9 million kWh per day to the power grids in central and east China, the project's vice general manager said.
Yang Qing said the unit would have to pass a 30-day trial operation, before beginning commercial production in August.
The combined energy of all the dam's 26 generators will eventually generate more than 80 billion kWh of electricity each year.
Massive project
The Three Gorges dam is unprecedented in both the scale of its construction and the number of people who have been forced to move to make way for the project.
By the time it is completed, the water level will reach a depth of 175 metres (574 feet), and create a reservoir which is 600 kilometres (375 miles) long.
Many villages and towns - and even some small cities - along the banks of the densely populated Yangtze have already been submerged by the rising waters.
More than 600,000 people have been forced to relocate, some as far away as Shanghai, 1,000 km (600 miles) east. About 1.3 million people will eventually have to move.
China's leaders say the country needs the 180bn yuan (US$22bn) dam to produce electricity, as well as control the annual flooding of the Yangtze.
But critics are worried about the destruction of dozens of cultural heritage sites.
And they say that if the dam breaks, it would spell disaster for those living down-river.
Many environmentalists have also warned about the danger of soil erosion, as well as pollution caused by trapped sewage and industrial waste.
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Is it a report on hydroelectric production or more greenie touchie-feelie handwringing?
Someone correct my math: 80 billion kWh is 80 million Megawatthours, which is 80 thousand Gigawatthours, which is 80 Terawatthours.
80 Terawatthours?
Well, actually, there were several articles posted on FR that were composed by the orchestrating "Negativity Nazis" in the American EnvironMental CommuNutty that just HATE any possible economic progress, especially by a Commonist Cuntry like China!!!
They were "crying wolf" again, like they have for decades in this nation... everything from "fish are dying for the evil humans," to "reservoir induced seismicity," to "you'll ruin ecotourism of the commercial whitewater rafting industry," yada, yada, yada!!!
They stopped one here that was 2/3rds completed in 1977 yelling "It's got an ancient FAULT under it" when every danged dam in CA is already built on or near a fault, already!!!
If anyone really cared enough, they could probably trace a distinct connection right back to the CA based "Friends (Fiends) of the River" 501(c)3 corporation that runs interference for CA's "C" corp whitewater rafting ramada who think it's more important to play with water than to slow it down enough to make needed power, grow food and jobs of all kinds, or stop devastating natural environment ruining floods!!!
I also see their "unseen hand" in the attempt to drive farming out of the Klamath Falls scenario because it screws up whitewater rafting flows and their obscene profits!!!
More cracks have since developed once the resevoir started filling -- but these have been deemed minor and the dam pronounce sound by the Agency overseeng the safety of the dam (yeah I believe that)
The first big test for the dam will be during the upcoming flood season --- the biggest test will be the next earthquake in that region.
As much as I like progress, I think this Dam is the next great Engineering Disaster waiting to happen -- and I think it will happen within the next 5 years.
The cracks make more sense now as part of the layering process, and may actually be less of a danger as they would have been in a poured dam. I was taking the cracks to be a result of a poor pouring process and a sign that the dam might be structurally flawed.
Question : what do you rate the chances of one of the layers failing when the ground starts shaking.
You do have a way with words.
At any given time, some turbines will be down for maintenence. Plus the sustained power output cannot exceed the physical limits of available water. Most likely, full power would drain the lake fairly quickly.
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