An aerial view of the Lianghekou hydropower station on the Yalong River in Yajiang county, Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Southwest China's Sichuan Province Photo: Courtesy of PowerChina Chengdu Engineering Corporation

China's Lianghekou hydropower plant on the Yalong River has been named the winner of the 2026 FIDIC Project of the Year in the Megaproject category, becoming the only hydropower project among this year's award recipients, according to PowerChina Chengdu Engineering Corporation, which undertook the project's survey and design work.

Located in Yajiang county, Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Southwest China's Sichuan Province, the 3,000-MW hydropower plant is a key project under China's 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020) and a critical regulating reservoir in the cascade development of the Yalong River. Construction began in 2014 and the project passed completion acceptance in 2024. Its gravel-soil core rockfill dam reaches a maximum height of 303 meters and has been certified by Guinness World Records as the world's highest rockfill dam.

The project sits at an average altitude of about 3,000 meters in a high-altitude region with seasonally frozen ground, leaving only around 200 effective construction days each year. Builders also had to contend with steep slopes, an underground powerhouse under high in-situ stress and the challenges of constructing an ultra-high rockfill dam in cold, high-altitude conditions. 

According to PowerChina, the project overcame a series of technical challenges involving the intelligent construction of an ultra-high rockfill dam, winter construction and the design and construction of high-head, high-velocity flood discharge systems. It set 11 world records and applied intelligent technologies throughout the construction process, helping advance dam building from digitalization toward intelligent construction.

Beyond its engineering achievements, the project has also generated economic and social benefits. About 18 percent of its total investment went directly to upgrading local infrastructure, including roughly 500 kilometers of roads and six new towns, while construction created more than 20,000 jobs annually. The station generates about 11 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity every year. By storing water during wetter periods and releasing it during drier periods, it can increase power generation across the river basin by about 34.1 billion kilowatt-hours during normal- and dry-water periods and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 21.3 million tons.

Together with supporting projects including the Kela photovoltaic power station and the Lianghekou Hybrid Pumped Storage project, Lianghekou is helping form the world's largest multi-energy complementary base integrating hydropower, wind power, solar power, hydrogen, energy storage and computing power, turning western China's resource advantages into economic advantages.

The 2026 FIDIC Global Infrastructure Conference was held in New Delhi under the theme "Engineering a Bright Future, Together: Quality Infrastructure for People and Prosperity." A total of 13 infrastructure projects from 11 countries received winner and highly commended awards in this year's Project Awards across different categories. 

FIDIC's official list names the Lianghekou project team as Yalong River Hydropower Development Company, PowerChina Chengdu Engineering Corporation and China International Engineering Consulting Corporation.



Global Times