(April 12, 2002) ‘At the beginning of the year, China’s environmental watchdog ordered the state-owned Yangtze River Three Gorges Project Development Corp. to halt unapproved construction of three hydropower projects, including the Xiluodu dam.’

(Excerpt)

Beijing China restarted construction on Monday on its second-largest hydropower project, which will have 12.6 gigawatts of installed capacity when up and running, state media said. Total investment would surpass 50 billion yuan ($6.2 billion) by the time the Xiluodu power station was completed in 2015, when it would annually generate 57.1 billion to 64 billion kilowatt hours of electricity, Xinhua news agency said. The dam would cross the Jinsha river section of the Yangtze in 2007 and its first generator would be installed in 2012, Xinhua said. At the beginning of the year, China’s environmental watchdog ordered the state-owned Yangtze River Three Gorges Project Development Corp. to halt unapproved construction of three hydropower projects, including the Xiluodu dam. Beijing generally encourages development of hydropower stations, which account for around a quarter of China’s installed capacity, as renewable, relatively clean alternatives to thermal plants. But some environmentalists do not believe large hydropower projects should be grouped with renewable energy technologies like solar power and wind turbines because of their impact on river systems.

Reuters, April 12, 2002