The Songjiangkou hydropower project in southwestern China - expected to become the world's tallest hydropower dam when completed - has been accumulating water since May 1, according to a statement from the project developer.
With a total investment of up to 36 billion yuan (equivalent to 4.9 billion USD), the hydropower project in the autonomous region of Tang and Khuong A Ba ethnic groups, Tu Xuyen province, has been under construction for nearly a decade. This hydropower project has 2 goals: Power generation and flood control.
Song Giang Khau Dam is located in the upper reaches of the Dai Do River - the river that originates from the Thanh Tang plateau and flows into the Tu Xuyen basin.
Power China Construction Group (PowerChina) is responsible for the construction of dams, transformer systems, generators and flood discharge works.
When completed, Song Giang Khau dam will reach a height of 315m, equivalent to a building of more than 100 floors, 10m higher than the current record held by Cam Binh I dam (Jinping I), also in Tu Xuyen.
According to PowerChina, the water level at Song Giang Khau dam has reached 2,344m after the first water storage phase, about 80m higher than the original water level of the river. The dam's water storage capacity currently reaches 110 million m3, equivalent to nearly 8 times the capacity of West Lake, Zhejiang Province, China.
"This progress has laid a solid foundation for the plant's operation," PowerChina emphasized.
The first unit of the Song Giang Khau hydropower plant is expected to be operational before the end of this year. When fully operational, the plant will have an installed capacity of 2,000 megawatt, producing more than 7 billion kilowatt hours of electricity per year, enough to meet the consumption needs of more than 3 million households.
The Song Giang Khau hydropower project was approved by China in April 2015 and started construction in July of the same year.
The construction of the world's tallest hydroelectric dam faces many technical challenges due to its altitude of over 2,400m and complex geological conditions.
To overcome these obstacles, China has applied advanced technology such as robots and 5G communication networks, drones... in the process of building hydropower dams.
Currently, most of the world's tallest hydroelectric dams are located in China. Since the 1950s, China has built more than 22,000 dams over 15m high to serve flood control, irrigation and power generation.
The southwestern part of China, home to rivers such as the Yang Zi and Kimsa, has most of its highest dams.
