Wudongde Hydropower Station:Where water takes a gorgeous turn

Ancient civilizations were dependent on nourishment from rivers. The world’s leading hydropower zones are on the surging upper reaches of the Yangtze River and the Jinsha River. Now, Wudongde Hydropower Station, a shining pearl in this rich zone of hydropower, is another project of national importance after the Three Gorges Hydroelectric Power Station.

China is one of the countries with the most abundant water resources in the world but the distribution of water energy resources is not uniform. Wudongde Hydropower Station is located at the junction of Luquan County, Kunming City, Yunnan Province and Huidong County, Liangshan Prefecture, Sichuan Province. It is the backbone power source of the project "Power Transmission from West to East" in China. The installed capacity is the fourth largest in China and the seventh in the world. The average annual power generation capacity is 38.91 billion kwh which can meet the power demand of Guangzhou in five months. It is expected that once it is in full swing, there will be a significant breakthrough in China’s green energy and flood control construction.

乌东德水电站的外型双曲拱坝十分抢眼。双曲拱坝一般在大型水电工程中很少采用，那为什么乌东德水电站要这样做呢？这里处于金沙江V型河谷，最适合设计拱坝，在最适合的地形上采用最轻巧的坝形，就像鸡蛋壳一样更好地发挥其拱梁作用，工程量最小，投资最少，可以获得最大的安全性和经济性的平衡。

The exterior double-curvature arch dam of Wudongde Hydropower Station is eye-catching. But double-curvature arch dam is rarely used in large hydropower projects. So why does Wudongde Hydropower Station have one? It is because of its topography. The station is located in the V-shaped valley of Jinsha River which is most suitable for the design of an arch dam. It is the lightest dam shape that has mechanical effect of arch beam like an eggshell. It can achieve maximum balance of safety and economy with minimum engineering and the least investment.

The water storage capacity needs to meet the demand for a super large hydropower station and a huge challenge is how to keep the body of the dam from cracking. The dam site is located in a dry and hot valley with high temperature and temperature difference between its interior and exterior can lead to concrete cracks. In order to effectively control the temperature, the project uses a new type of concrete for water cooling. Thousands of monitoring instruments work in real-time to keep the dam cool.

Advanced new materials and technologies provide a solid guarantee for the construction of Wudongde Project as a national great power in the new era.

It is said that China is an “infrastructure giant”. In order to build Wudongde Hydropower Station, the chief designer of the project — The Changjiang Institute of Survey Planning, Design and Research (CISPDR) — carried out 17 years of investigation and design research. Consequently, Wudongde Hydropower Station has created many new records --- the world’s thinnest 300-meter super-high arch dam, the world’s highest underground power plant and the world’s largest hydroelectric generating unit. 

The dam’s prowess has tamed gushing waters into endless streams of green electric energy, benefiting millions of families. It has given a boost to the construction of the Yangtze River economic belt as well as given a leg-up to China’s economic takeoff.