Xiluodu project a name card for China’s hydropower projects

The Xiluodu hydropower project, which was recognized with an Outstanding Project of the Year Award by the International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC), plays a significant role in China's hydropower going global, according to an expert.

Xiluodu's FIDIC award, which is dubbed the Nobel Prize in the field of international engineering consulting, is a worldwide recognition and approval for China's hydropower stations, said Tang Ping, vice president of the China National Association of Engineering Consultants.

This will lead to more of China's hydropower stations going global in the near future, she said.

It was the only hydropower project among the world's 21 award-winning projects at the FIDIC awards gala dinner in Morocco last September.

Xiluodu, developed by China Three Gorges Corporation, is the world's third-largest hydropower station, with an installed capacity of 13,860 MW.

It was designed to provide power generation, control sediment and flooding, and improve navigation downstream.

The entire project involves the construction of a dam, power conduit systems and power plants, as well as flood discharge and energy dissipation structures.

The structure of the dam is the most complicated in the world, as its intelligent construction theory and 300-meter Xiluodu arch dam system were the first to be established, said Tang.

"The China Three Gorges Corporation has developed important technologies including precise blasting, digital grouting, intelligent vibrating and temperature control, which ensured no temperature cracking during the 6.8 million cubic meters dam concrete pouring."

"The innovative ideas and technologies of the Xiluodu Project have given the project a leading position in the world in intelligent construction of mass concrete structures, which has successfully solved the dam crack problem, a world class difficult issue," said Professor Luis Berga, Honorary President of International Committee on Large Dams.

According to its operator China Three Gorges Corporation, Xiluodu generated 50 billion kwh of electricity last year.

The amount is equal to the total power consumption of Chengdu, capital of Southwest China's Sichuan province, in 2015, and equivalent to the burning of 20 million tonnes of coal, reducing carbon dioxide emissions by around 50 million tonnes, according to China Three Gorges Corporation.

Since it started operation in July 2013, the station has generated a total of 160 billion kwh of electricity.

Construction of the Xiluodu hydropower station, located in the Jinsha River, a major headstream of the Yangtze in southwestern Yunnan and Sichuan provinces, started in 2005.