The Lijiaxia Hydropower Station No. 5, one of many world’s largest hydropower crops in a dual-row turbine format, accomplished its 72-hour trial run and was declared formally operational on Oct. 10.
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The Lijiaxia Hydropower Station on the Yellow River is China’s first and the world’s largest of its variety with generators in a double-row format. Courtesy: China Media Group |
Completion of the fifth 400-MW unit on the Lijiaxia Hydropower Station brings the plant’s complete capability to 2 GW, stated challenge proprietor China’s State Energy Funding Corp. (SPIC). Building of the plant, situated on the Yellow River in central China’s Qinghai province, started in 1988. As of September 2023, the ability station had cumulatively generated 14,248 TWh.
Unit 5 marks the primary time China has put in a double-row turbine association, it famous. Unit 5’s generator additionally “adopts a brand new domestically produced evaporative cooling scheme, which can additional enhance the ability station’s peak regulation and frequency modulation capabilities,” it added. The expertise was first examined on Unit 4.
The Lijiaxia hydropower station is the third stage of a giant hydropower station upstream of the Yellow River. Different initiatives on the cascade embody the Longyangxia reservoir and the 4.2-GW Laxiwa hydropower station (the biggest on the cascade). In keeping with the Worldwide Hydropower Affiliation (IHA), China added greater than 15 GW to its typical hydropower capability and eight.7 GW of pumped storage hydro in 2022. Final yr, the nation introduced on-line behemoth installations, such because the 16 GW Baihetan hydropower station—now the second largest hydropower challenge on the earth—in December 2022.
Final yr, China’s State Grid Corp. additionally introduced the operation of the three.6 GW Fengning Pumped Storage, one of many world’s largest pumped storage initiatives. The challenge was developed in two 1.8-GW phases by State Grid subsidiary State Grid Xinyuan Co. “Fengning is reportedly the primary hydroelectric facility in China to combine variable-speed expertise for environment friendly energy technology,” IHA famous. “Not solely is it the world’s largest pumped storage challenge, however it additionally has 190 caverns, making it one of many largest underground factories on the earth. It’s also one of many world’s first pumped storage energy stations related to the versatile DC grid, because of a connection made to the Zhangbeirou DC converter station.”
—Sonal Patel is a senior affiliate editor for POWER.
