The Three Gorges Dam

When speaking bout the size of China, one cannot ignore the newest engineering feat that's being built right now: The Three Gorges Dam. Here are some figures that provide a vision of the sheer size of this project, courtesy of Wikipedia (with all the caveats that come with it). I would like to encourage people who have better or more precise information to contribute to the posts.

The total electric generating capacity of the dam will reach 22,500 megawatts in 2011, at which point it will be the largest hydro-electric power station in the world by capacity. The dam wall is made of concrete and is about 2,309 metres (7,575 ft) long, and 185 metres (607 ft) high. The wall is 115 metres (377.3 ft) wide on the bottom and 40 metres (131.2 ft) wide on top. The project used 27,200,000 cubic metres (35,600,000 cu yd) of concrete, 463,000 metric tons of steel, enough to build 63 Eiffel Towers, and moved about 10,260,000 cubic metres (13,400,000 cu yd) of earth.

The reservoir created by the Three Gorges Dam exceeds 660 kilometres (410 mi) in length and 1.12 kilometres (0.70 mi) in width on average, and contains 39,300,000,000 cubic metres (9.43 cu mi) of water, when the water level is at 175 metres (574 ft). The dam will reach its maximum capacity by the end of 2008.

When finished, the project will have cost no more than 180 billion yuan, over 20 billion yuan less than the initial estimated budget (a public engineering project that end up under-budget... that is a great feat in itself!) of 203.9 billion yuan, just under 30 billion USD. This calculation accounts for the effect of inflation, and the lower costs are attributed to a low inflation rate in recent years. It is estimated that the cost of construction will be recovered when the dam generates 1000 TWh of the electricity, which will be sold at the price of 250 billion yuan. This will take 10 more years after the dam starts full operation.

Sources for funding include the Three Gorges Dam Construction Fund, revenue from Gezhouba Dam, policy loans from the China Development Bank, loans from domestic and foreign commercial banks, corporate bonds, and revenue from Three Gorges Dam before and after it is fully operational, with additional charges for electricity contributing to the Three Gorges Construction Fund. The additional charges are as follows: Every province receiving power from the Three Gorges Dam has to pay an additional charge of ¥7.00 per MWh. Provinces that will not receive power from the Three Gorges Dam have to pay an additional charge of ¥4.00 per MWh. Tibet does not have to pay any additional money... I am sure they are thrilled about this.

The Campus Abroad delegation will visit the Three Gorges Dam between June 25 and June 27 of 2008. We will be accompanied by top management, a favor due to the close links between HEC Montreal and the Three Gorges Dam corporation: HEC Montreal provides Management Training to their top management.