How China built the world’s largest arch dam in just four years
An aerial view of the Baihetan dam, which is expected to generate more than 60 billion kilowatt hours of electricity per year after it opens in July.
Photo: Getty Images
When China’s newest hydropower plant is completed in July, it will produce 16 times the energy of the Hoover Dam in the United States.
Standing nearly 300 metres (985 feet) tall, and made with more than 8 million cubic metres of concrete, the Baihetan dam towers over Jinshajiang – the “River of Golden Sand” – as the upper section of the Yangtze River is known. It will power homes, office buildings and factories as far away as Jiangsu, a coastal province more than 2,000km (1,240 miles) to the east.