Three Gorges Dam
Located in China’s Hubei Province, the Three Gorges Dam is the world’s largest hydroelectric dam. The dam’s body was finished in 2006 and in May of 2012, the final of the dam’s 34 generators are in operation creating an electricity generating capacity of 22,500MW.
An idea of a dam across the Yangtze River was originally brought up by Sun Yat-sen in 1919. In 1932 the Chinese Nationalist government began preparing plans for a dam in the Three Gorges and in 1939, during the Japanese occupation, a plan was completed to build a dam. In 1944 John L. Savage, chief design engineer for the United States Bureau of Reclamation drew up a dam proposal based on surveys he conducted. Chinese engineers went to the United States for training. In 1947, work on the dam was halted because of the Chinese Civil War. In 1992, the National People’s Congress approved construction of the dam and construction began in 1994.
The Three Gorges Dam is 2,335 meters long and the top of the dam is 181 meters tall. Over 27 million cubic meters of concrete, and 463,000 tons of steel were used in the dam’s construction. The water level, behind the dam is 110 meters above the original river level when at its maximum.
