The construction of the Yebatan Hydropower Station, an important project for optimizing China's energy structure, is in full swing as the first generator stator was successfully installed on Wednesday.
The Yebatan Hydropower Station is located at the junction of Baiyu County in southwest China's Sichuan Province and Konjo County in neighboring Xizang Autonomous Region. With a total installed capacity of 2,240 MW, it will be the largest hydropower station on the upper reaches of the Jinsha River upon completion of its construction.
The 15.6-meter diameter stator, a core component of the hydropower generator, was lowered into the designated area on Wednesday, paving the way for the assembly of the first generating unit.
After completing following installation work such as bolt tightening, testing, and calibration, installation of the rotor and other turbine components will be commenced.
The project consists of a dam structure, a flood discharge structure and a water diversion and power generation system. It is expected to start operation of its first batch of generating units by the end of 2025.
"The Yebatan Hydropower Station, with the approval of its construction in 2016, presents unique challenges due to its high altitude, cold climate, ultra-high arch damming, high ground stress and large burial depth, and features large-span underground workshops. We've applied many advanced technologies and developed a smart management platform to ensure its construction quality. We aim to commission the first generating units by the end of next year," Liu Qiang, executive director of the Yebatan branch of China Huadian Corporation said on Tuesday.
The dam has been built to a height of 171 meters so far and will ultimately stand at 217 meters. It is China's highest-altitude double-curved arch dam hydropower station under construction.
Once operational, the Yebatan Hydropower Station is expected to generate an average of 10.2 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, saving 3.99 million tons of standard coal and reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 7.37 million tons.
The clean energy generated will be transmitted to central China via the world's first large-capacity hydropower-photovoltaic hybrid DC transmission line -- the Jinshang-Hubei ±800 kV UHV DC transmission project.
China's mega hydropower station completes installation of first generator stator
U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement of a 100 percent tariff on overseas-produced films has ignited fierce criticism from Hollywood and academic circles, amid growing concerns over the struggling domestic film industry.
Nicholas J. Cull, a professor at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, warned that the film tariff is fundamentally an act of political manipulation. He cautioned that it would heighten uncertainty in the industry, hinder international cultural exchange, sever global understanding, and undermine efforts toward international cooperation and dialogue.
"We live in a world where the problems are too big for any one country to solve, and the only way these problems are going to be solved is if people are able to work together. Now working together requires trust. Trust requires knowledge. One of the ways in which countries get to know each other, get to appreciate each other, is through exposure to their popular culture. Now it should be a time for learning more about each other, building trust between countries, and learning how to work together. And seeing each other's movies, I think, is a really important way of building knowledge and building trust. And so to me, the idea of limiting the distribution of films or penalizing production of foreign films is swimming in exactly the wrong direction at this particular moment in history," said Cull.
Cull also challenged Trump's justification that foreign films pose a threat to national security, calling it unconvincing and counterproductive to America's global image.
"He is making this important connection in that statement between what people see of America, how people feel about America, and how secure the United States is, but I don't think making crazy proposals and threatening our neighbors is a great way of helping America's reputation. I think that there must be better ways of going about this. So in the long term, this kind of behavior, I think increases mistrust about the United States," he said.
Cull further warned that the policy could trigger retaliatory measures from other countries, escalating into a cultural trade war that would limit the global flow of ideas and creativity.
"I think that in the more immediate future we can see that there will be a danger of reciprocal tariffs. So other countries will say, 'well, if you're going to impose a tariff on our production, we're going to impose a tariff on your production.' And that would be unhelpful. I think one of the things I would worry about is the world seeing less of one another's creativity, less of one another's perspectives. Right now, we need to know more about what each other are thinking, I feel," he explained.
Trump's film tariff fuels global cultural divide: scholar
