The other six turbines were having an overhaul in rotation in the past three days to prepare for the eventual power generation at full capacity by the entire unit, said Zhao Yunfa, deputy chief engineer of the Three Gorges Cascaded Dispatch Center with the China Three Gorges Project Corporation.

The 14 giant turbines started operation since 3 p.m. on Wednesday and 13 of them produced 9 million kw of electricity on Saturday, with another one being stopped for check, Zhao said.

The entire unit, the largest in China, is able to generate 9.8 million kw of power at full capacity once the water level in the Three Gorges Dam reservoir reaches the 148-meter mark, which has been recorded on Monday, he said.

The water level is currently being raised from 135.5 to 156 meters, and it reached 153.3 meters on Saturday. Water from upstream is flowing into the reservoir at a rate of 13,200 cubic meters per second.

The first power turbine was put into operation in July 2003. Launched in 1993, the Three Gorges Project, including a 2,309-meter-long, 185-meter-high dam with 26 power generators, is being built in three phases on the middle reaches of the Yangtze, China’s longest river.

The gigantic project is expected to generate 84.7 billion kwh of electricity annually when it is finally completed in 2009.