The Yebatan Hydropower Station

 

The Yebatan Hydropower Station

 
The first generating units of the China Huadian Corp's Yebatan Hydropower Station - China's highest-altitude arch dam power project currently under construction and the largest hydropower project on the Sichuan-Xizang section of the upper Jinsha River - officially began generating electricity on Saturday. As a key project under the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25), its launch marks another significant breakthrough for China in building ultra-high arch dams and developing clean energy in high-altitude, frigid regions. 

Located on the Sichuan-Xizang section of the upper Jinsha River, Yebatan Hydropower Station is the seventh of 13 planned hydropower stations along this river section. It is funded and developed by China Huadian Corp's Jinsha River Upstream Hydropower Development Co, with the PowerChina Chengdu Engineering Co responsible for planning, feasibility studies, and full-stage survey and design. The station has a total installed capacity of 2.24 million kilowatts, a reservoir capacity of 1.08 billion cubic meters, and a designed annual power output of 10.2 billion kilowatt-hours. Once fully operational, it will save more than 3 million tons of standard coal annually and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by over 7 million tons.

Construction of the station has spanned more than 20 years. Planning began in 2004, official approval for construction was granted in 2016, and the river was successfully dammed in 2019. The project has demanded immense dedication and effort across generations of builders. Major challenges included complex geological conditions at the dam base, well-developed deep unloading zones, and high in-situ stress conditions (up to 37.6 MPa). The construction also overcame two natural disasters involving the Baige landslide-dammed lakes. Through continuous technological innovation, the project team overcame key technical hurdles such as dam construction on a deeply unloaded bedrock foundation in tectonically active zones, safe construction of large-scale underground caverns in fractured rock under high stress, thermal cracking prevention and temperature control in high-altitude arch dams, and uninterrupted winter concrete pouring. 

According to project director Li Jingbo, the Chengdu institute has previously undertaken major arch dam projects such as Ertan, Xiluodu and Dagangshan. At Yebatan, the team achieved multiple new industry milestones: With a maximum dam height of 217 meters, it is the highest-altitude double-curvature arch dam under construction in China. It is also the first arch dam in frigid regions to achieve uninterrupted winter concrete pouring. Among ultra-high arch dams with a discharge capacity exceeding 10,000 cubic meters per second, Yebatan is the first to adopt a full-body spillway design. It is also home to China's first rockfill concrete overflow secondary dam, addressing a prior technical gap. 

Its underground powerhouse features a vertical depth of 480 meters and a tailrace tunnel stretching 3,172 meters - both the longest among similar domestic projects. The station includes Asia's tallest single-section vertical shaft (311 meters) and the most 500kV power transmission circuits among all hydropower stations in the country. The 510,000-kilowatt single turbine is the first in Southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region to use pumped storage regulation and can operate stably under 0 to 100 percent full load. 

The project also incorporates strong ecological protection measures, including the Yangtze River's first fish proliferation and release station and China's first fish passage system for ultra-high arch dams. 

The Yebatan project promotes smart construction through an innovative digital platform known as "Yedian Cloud," enabling full digital management based on 3D design outputs and technologies such as IoT, BIM, and AI. This includes intelligent temperature control for the dam, grouting, and digitalized process management, establishing a new model for managing major projects under complex high-altitude conditions. 

Electricity generated at Yebatan will be transmitted to Central China through the Jinshang-Hubei ±800kV ultra-high-voltage direct current project, significantly enhancing regional power supply and injecting strong green momentum into high-quality socio-economic development. 

As a vital part of the upper Jinsha River clean energy base, the Yebatan Hydropower Station not only showcases China's leading hydropower engineering capabilities but also plays a key role in advancing the green energy transition and realizing the nation's dual carbon goals. It contributes substantially to building a new energy system and ensuring national energy security.