The Baihetan hydropower station, the world's second-largest in terms of total installed capacity, went fully operational Tuesday in the upper section of the Yangtze River in southwest China, according to China Three Gorges Corporation.

白鹤滩水电站位于四川省宁南县和云南省巧家县交界的金沙江干流河段上，总装机容量1600万千瓦，是我国实施“西电东送”的国家重大工程，共安装16台我国自主研制的全球单机容量最大功率百万千瓦水轮发电机组。

白鹤滩水电站一景（12月19日摄，无人机照片）来源：新华社

白鹤滩水电站全面投产后，金沙江下游四座超级工程——乌东德水电站、白鹤滩水电站、溪洛渡水电站、向家坝水电站，与长江上的葛洲坝水利枢纽、三峡工程，共同构成了世界最大清洁能源走廊。

Four of them -- Wudongde, Baihetan, Xiluodu, and Xiangjiaba -- are located on the Jinsha River, the upper section of the Yangtze River, while the other two -- Three Gorges Dam and Gezhouba -- are on the middle section of the Yangtze. Collectively, they account for about one-fifth of China's total hydropower installed capacity, forming a 1,800-km-long clean energy corridor that also plays a major role in flood control, shipping, water resources utilization, and ecological security in the Yangtze River Basin.

白鹤滩的总装机容量为1600万千瓦，仅次于中国长江三峡大坝项目。在所有机组全部投产发电后，其年均发电量将超过624亿千瓦时，足以满足约7500万人的年用电量，每年可节约标准煤约1968万吨，减少二氧化碳排放约5160万吨。

With a total installed capacity of 16 million kilowatts, Baihetan is second only to the Three Gorges Dam project in the central Chinese province of Hubei. The hydropower station will generate an average of more than 62.4 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity every year, sufficient for the annual electricity consumption of approximately 75 million people.

白鹤滩水电站全部机组投产发电仪式现场（12月20日摄，无人机照片）来源：新华社

三峡集团党组书记、董事长雷鸣山说：“白鹤滩标志着中国高端装备制造的重大突破，因为它配备了16台国产水力发电机组，每台机组容量为100万千瓦，是世界上最大的单机容量。”

"Baihetan signifies a major breakthrough in China's high-end equipment manufacturing, as it is equipped with 16 home-grown hydro-generating units, each with a capacity of 1 million kilowatts, the largest single-unit capacity in the world," said Lei Mingshan, chairman of China Three Gorges Corporation.

雷鸣山补充说，白鹤滩的全面运行对中国能源结构的转变、长江经济带的建设以及国家区域经济的协调发展具有重要意义。

The full operation of Baihetan is of great significance to China's shift in energy structure, the construction of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, and the coordinated development of the regional economy in the country, Lei added.

白鹤滩水电站一景（12月19日摄，无人机照片）来源：新华社

据介绍，白鹤滩水电站工程规模巨大，地质条件复杂，综合技术难度位居世界第一。对于工程师和专家来说，白鹤滩水电站的建成无疑是一个重要的建设成就。

白鹤滩水电站大坝泄洪 来源：新华社

国际水电协会 （IHA） 首席执行官埃迪·里奇 （Eddie Rich） 称赞白河滩是一个大型项目，它克服了水电工程师所面临的一些最困难的技术挑战。

Eddie Rich, CEO of the International Hydropower Association, hailed Baihetan as a mega project that has overcome some of the most difficult technical challenges ever faced by hydropower engineers.

里奇说，该项目的成功完成代表了水电整个生命周期的技术进步，从设计和规划，到材料科学和设备制造，再到施工技术和智能管理，都看到了技术的飞跃。

The successful completion of the project "represents technological advances across the whole lifecycle of hydropower, from design and planning, to material science and equipment manufacturing, and construction technologies and intelligent management," said Rich.

白鹤滩横跨云南和四川两省，位于一个生态条件脆弱的地区，容易发生地理灾害。在其建设过程中，环境保护一直被列为重要议程。据三峡集团称，在白鹤滩水电站工程建设过程中，实施了黑水河栖息地生态修复、分层取水设施、植物园等生态环境保护工程，筑牢长江上游重要生态屏障。

Baihetan, which straddles the provinces of Yunnan and Sichuan, is located in a region with fragile ecological conditions and which is prone to geographic disasters. Environmental protection had been high on the agenda during its construction. Projects such as ecological restoration of the Heishui River habitat, stratified intake facilities and botanical gardens, were implemented to build an ecological barrier in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, according to China Three Gorges Corporation.

白鹤滩水电站全景面貌 

随着世界最大清洁能源走廊全面建成，6座巨型电站联合调度、协同运行，年均发电量达3000亿千瓦时，可有效缓解华中、华东地区及川、滇、粤等省份的用电紧张局面，为“西电东送”和电网安全稳定运行发挥重要支撑。每年可节约标煤约9045万吨，减少排放二氧化碳约24840万吨，对改善我国能源结构，助推实现碳达峰、碳中和目标发挥出积极作用。