The first unit of China's Maerdang Hydropower Station, the highest-altitude facility of its kind with the largest installed capacity in the Yellow River basin, saw the successful hoisting of its generator rotor into position, paving the way for the entire station to be operational by the end of the year.
The giant rotor, with a total weight of 270 tons, is the core component of the water-turbine generator set. The rotor hoisting, demanding precision and skill, took 40 minutes to complete and is a key step in the unit's installation.
Located at an average altitude of 3,300 meters in northwest China's Qinghai Province, the Maerdang Hydropower Station has a total installed capacity of 2.32 million kilowatts and five hydropower generating units, which makes it a major power provider in the "west-to-east power transmission" project.
With all units put into use in December, the station is expected to generate an average of 7.3 billion kWh of electricity annually, reducing carbon dioxide emissions by about 8.16 million tons each year.
The construction marks a milestone in Qinghai's new energy development and will facilitate the establishment of more clean energy bases in the upper reaches of the Yellow River.
China's high-altitude hydropower station unit enters final assembly stage
The European Central Bank (ECB) announced on Thursday that it would slash key interest rates by 25 basis points in a bid to wind down the restrictive monetary policy.
Effective from March 12, the interest rates on the deposit facility, the main refinancing operations and the marginal lending facility will be decreased to 2.50 percent, 2.65 percent and 2.90 percent respectively, said the central bank in a statement.
The disinflation process is well on track, with headline inflation averaging 2.3 percent in 2025, 1.9 percent in 2026 and 2.0 percent in 2027, the ECB said.
The decision to keep on cutting rates came at a time when the economy in the eurozone is facing increasing uncertainties.
In its latest edition of the staff projections on Thursday, the ECB lowered its forecast for economic growth in the eurozone to 0.9 percent for 2025, 1.2 percent for 2026 and 1.3 percent for 2027.
This marks a downward revision from the ECB's forecast in December last year, which had projected 1.1 percent growth in 2025 and 1.4 percent in 2026, while the 2027 outlook remains unchanged.
The ECB attributed the weaker growth outlook for 2025 and 2026 to declining exports and sluggish investment, citing high trade policy uncertainty and broader economic instability as key factors.
ECB cuts interest rates by 25 basis points
