China's mega hydropower station completes installation of first generator stator

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

Zhao Leji, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), held talks with speaker of the Finnish parliament Jussi Halla-aho in Beijing on Monday, to discuss relations between their two countries.

Noting this year marks the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Finland, Zhao said China stands ready to work together with Finland to deliver on the important consensus reached between the top leaders of the two countries, and promote continuous development of the China-Finland future-oriented new-type cooperative partnership.

China is further deepening reform comprehensively and expanding high-standard opening up, which will bring new opportunities for bilateral cooperation, Zhao said, noting China is willing to make joint efforts with Finland to expand win-win cooperation and cement public support for bilateral relations.

China hopes that Finland will continue to play a positive role in boosting mutual promotion and common development of China-Finland relations and of relations between China and the European Union (EU), Zhao said.

Zhao said that the NPC is ready to carry forward the traditional friendship and implement close exchange and cooperation with the Finnish parliament.

As China and Finland each have their own characteristics in national governance and development concepts, the national legislatures of the two countries can learn from each other and play their legislative and supervisory roles to create a sound and stable legal environment for practical cooperation between the two countries, he said.

For his part, Halla-aho said that Finland stays committed to the one-China policy, noting the government of the People's Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China.

On the basis of mutual respect and trust, Finland is willing to promote practical bilateral cooperation, safeguard free trade and tackle common challenges, said Halla-aho, noting that the Finnish parliament hopes for enhanced exchange with China's NPC, so as to play a positive role in deepening the relations between Finland and China.

China's top legislator holds talks with Finland's parliament speaker on relations