Construction of the Yalong River Lianghekou hydropower plant has begun in the Sichuan Province of Southwest China. The plant will be the largest integrated hydro-solar power station in the world, according to its operator Yalong River Hydropower Development Co Ltd.
Construction starts on its first phase, known as the Kela photovoltaic power station. It will be situated on the Yalong River in the Tibetan autonomous prefecture of Garze, Sichuan province. The Kela photovoltaic power station is anticipated to be operational by 2023 with an installed capacity of one million kilowatts.
Additionally, it will have an average annual power generation capacity of 2 billion kilowatt-hours. The power plant will be one of the tallest of its kind in China and is constructed at a height of between 4,000 and 4,600 meters. The steady operation of a grid network will be impacted because large-scale photovoltaic power generation which typically occurs in the middle of the day.
Furthermore, its night generation capacity is zero. However, the Lianghekou hydropower plant can aid in reducing the erratic and unpredictable nature of photovoltaic power generation. Thus, it offers a cutting-edge framework for the production and use of new forms of energy.
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The Lianghekou hydropower plant
The Lianghekou hydropower plant will also be the largest reservoir hydropower station in Sichuan Province. It will have a total installed capacity of 3 million kW. Its total storage capacity will be 10.8 billion cubic meters. Around 6.6 billion cubic meters of regulation storage are available and can be crucial for regulating and adjusting.
Additionally, solar energy complements the hydropower plant because hydropower has a much higher generation capacity during the summer’s high flow period. However, it has much less during the winter’s drought period.
Li Sheng, deputy director of the China Renewable Energy Engineering Institute, claims that the Lianghekou hydropower plant development model will increase the nation’s use of new energy even more. “We can also lift the utilization of power transmission and boost power generation advantages. This is by complementing the two clean energy power generation features,” he said.
