China’s Three Gorges Dam began running at full capacity on Wednesday following the installation of its 32nd turbine generator, which signified the completion of the huge hydropower project, Reuters reported. The combined generating capacity of dam now reaches up to 22.5 gigawatts, providing 11% of China’s hydroelectric capacity. “The complete operation of all the generators makes the Three Gorges dam the world’s largest hydropower project, and the largest base for clean energy,” said Zhang Cheng, general manager of China Yangtze Power, the project’s operator. Work began on the on the dam that straddles China’s Yangtze River in 1994, and it first began generating electricity in July 2003. It cost roughly US$40 billion to build the 185-meter dam and 600 km reservoir, which uprooted at least 1.3 million people.
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