Three Gorges Project reaches 1 trillion kWh milestone

The world's largest hydropower project, the Three Gorges, has generated one trillion kilowatt-hours of electricity after 14 years of operation.

The power generation milestone is equivalent to more than seven times the amount of electricity used by the entire city of Shanghai in 2015, according to the China Three Gorges Corporation which built and operates the infrastructure.

The Three Gorges Project has helped reduce consumption of coal by 319 million metric tons and reduced carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide emissions by 858 million tons and 9 million tons respectively, compared with thermal power generation, the corporation estimated.

The Three Gorges hydropower project has a generating capacity of 22.5 million kilowatts and is located in the middle reaches of China's longest river, the Yangtze.

The multi-functional water control system consisting of a dam, 32 hydropower turbo-generators with a generating capacity of 700,000 kilowatts each, a five-tier ship lock and a shiplift, generated 93.5 billion kWh of electricity last year.

Launched in 1993, the project controls flood waters, generates electricity and helps to regulate the river's shipping traffic.

The hydropower plant has a combined generating capacity of 22.5 million kilowatts and a designed annual generation capacity of 88.2 billion kWh.