China's Three Gorges dam generates 1,600 TWh of power in 20 years

The world's largest hydropower project, China's Three Gorges Hydroelectric Power Station on the Yangtze River has generated over 1,600 terawatt-hours (TWh) of clean electricity since 2003 when its first generator unit was put into operation.

This amount of electricity totals the sum of the whole year direct-use electricity by Chinese residents in 2022. It is also equivalent to saving over 480 million tonnes of standard coal and reducing carbon dioxide emissions by about 1.32 billion tonnes.

With 34 hydropower turbo-generators, the power station has a total installed capacity of 22.5 gigawatts and a designed annual power generation capacity of 88.2 TWh.

The project is the backbone of China's "west-to-east power transmission" and "north-to-south mutual electricity supply" projects. It also provides electricity to other areas and regions including east China, central China and south China's Guangdong Province.

The construction of the Three Gorges project started in 1994. After passing all acceptance tests, the power station was officially certified as fully completed and functioning in 2020.

Besides electricity generation, the Three Gorges power station has also played a significant role in flood control, shipping and water resource utilization.

The Three Gorges power station along with another five mega hydropower stations on the Yangtze River – Wudongde, Baihetan, Xiluodu, Xiangjiaba, and Gezhouba – make up the world's largest clean energy corridor.

Spanning 1,800 kilometers with 110 hydropower units, the clean energy corridor boasts a total installed capacity of 71.7 gigawatts and an average annual electricity production of about 300 TWh, which is crucial to building a clean, low-carbon, safe and efficient energy system in China.