Yangtze River Dam – 5 Secrets You don’t Know
1. There are two Yangtze River Dams!
When it occurs to Yangtze River Dam, the first comes to people’s mind is Three Gorges Dam. However, there is another Yangtze River Dam, Gezhouba Dam. The two dams are both located in Yichang, Hubei Province. Gezhouba Dam is in the downstream of Three Gorges Dam, about 38 km (24 miles) away. Gezhouba Dam was completed in 1988, and Three Gorges Dam was put into operation in 2006. Three Gorges Dam becomes the largest hydroelectric power station in China as well as in the world, and the Gezhouba Dam is the second largest in China.
2. How much power can Three Gorges Dam generate? 100 billion kWh a year!
Three Gorges Yangtze River Dam is the largest concrete gravity dam, also a water-control project with best benefits worldwide so far. Its installed gross capacity is 22.5 million kWh, and the annual generating capacity can reach over 100 billion kWh, which is mainly transferred to Hubei, Henan, Hunan, Jiangxi, Chongqing, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui and Guangdong provinces. On the on-grid electricity price of CNY 0.25 / kWh, the Three Gorges Dam’s income from power generation would be more than CNY 25 billion (USD 3.6 billion) per year. Itaipu Dam, the second-largest hydroelectric power station around the world, has an installed gross capacity of 14 million kWh and annual capacity of 90 billion kWh. Comparing with it, Three Gorges Yangtze River Dam is far ahead.
3. How big flood can Three Gorges Dam control?
Three Gorges Yangtze River Dam has a flood capacity of 22.15 billion cubic meters and a maximum water capacity of 39.3 billion cubic meters. It can defense the hundred-year flood with no difficulty. If a one-in-a-thousand-year flood would come, the dam could still work regularly. If the flood was once in a 10,000 years, the main body of the dam would not be destroyed, but its functions would be influenced.
See more about How does the Three Gorges Dam work in Yangtze River flood control?
4. Is the Three Gorges Dam strong enough? Like an iron bastion.
Three Gorges Yangtze River Dam is like an iron fortress. It was built with 27 million tons concretes, 290 thousand tons rebar and 255 thousand tons steels. Also, it is a concrete gravity dam and each part of the dam could ensure its stable depending on its own gravity. Even if some part was damaged, the whole dam would not collapse, and it can be repaired directly. Conventional weapons cannot do anything to Three Gorges Dam, unless the nuclear weapon were used.
5. The Truth of Water Monster in Three Gorges Dam
In 2019, the water monster in Three Gorges Yangtze River Dam was widely reported or speculated through network. At the beginning, someone took a video of the water monster in Three Gorges Dam area and shared it online, which caught many people’s eyes. In the video, a black huge creature was twisting in the water. Some people thought it is a huge water snake, while others guessed it is a large amount of litter. Later, it was proved the place was not in the area of Three Gorges Dam, but in Anhui Province. And at last, the huge unidentified thing was gotten out of the water in Chizhou, Anhui. People found it was a 20-meter-long waste rubber balloon. Thus there is no water monster in Three Gorges Dam.
Read More: Three Gorges Dam Facts: 8 Things You Need to Know