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GE Renewable Energy connects final hydro units to the grid in China

Published by , Editorial Assistant
Energy Global,


In line with the planned schedule, GE Renewable Energy’s last unit of the Wudongde (WDD) hydropower station has now been successfully connected to the grid for power generation and has completed 72 hours of trial operation. Under the contract signed in 2015, the company was responsible for the design, engineering, manufacturing, erection supervision and the commissioning of the six 850 MW Francis turbine generator sets and related equipment for the hydropower project. At 850 MW, these are some of the world's largest units ever used in a hydropower plant. The first unit was connected to the grid in July 2020. A single such unit is said to be capable of powering the equivalent of 1.8 million typical Chinese homes.

The WDD hydropower station is located in the lower reaches of Jinsha River with a total installed capacity of 10 200 MW. The power plant is an essential part of the West-East Power Transmission project, in which China is developing power resources in the western region and sending electricity to provinces in the East which are in short supply of electricity, including Guangdong, Jiangsu, Shanghai and Beijing. It is estimated that the clean energy produced by the WDD hydropower plant will save approximately 12.2 million tpy of standard coal. Likewise, the power plant is expected to reduce emissions of 30.5 million t of CO2 as well as 104 000 t of SO2.

WDD is already the third joint large-scale national energy infrastructure project of the China Three Gorges Corporation (CTG) and GE Renewable Energy on a national level. The Three Gorges Project was connected to the grid as early as 2008, followed by the Xiangjiaba hydropower plant, which was completed in 2014.

To be able to realise the project, GE Renewable Energy has also upgraded local hydropower capacities in China. Among other things, the company has managed the project from its site in Tianjin, China, where most of the components were also manufactured. The parts were then assembled at a specially built and dedicated on-site facility in Wudongde. This remote workshop helped improve logistical efficiency while maintaining the required quality standards.

 

 

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Read the article online at: https://www.energyglobal.com/other-renewables/02072021/ge-renewable-energy-connects-final-hydro-units-to-the-grid-in-china/

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