China kicks Three Gorges Dam turbine generator into motion

The AP reports that China has flipped the switch on the first of 12 turbine generators on the right side of the ginormous Three Gorges Dam, with it apparently already pumping electricity to the national power grid after a 72-hour test run. The dam itself, as you're no doubt aware, is the world's biggest hydropower project evar, totaling up to some $22.5 billion. In addition to giving it something to brag about, China is hoping that the dam will let it cut its dependence on coal, as well as control flooding on the Yangtze river. This latest development follows the activation of 14 turbines on the left bank of the dam, which began operating in September of 2005.

[ryan @ Jun 11th 2007 7:36PM]

You lost my respect at "evar."

[paloooz @ Jun 12th 2007 12:04AM]

I don't quite understand you people. Is your life so important and so serious that you can't take a bit of the mildest humor? Oh God! Oh no! He said "evar" and his summary was not 100% grammatically correct! If you don't like how the Engadget writers write, then don't read Engadget, and especially don't comment about it.

[Roberto @ Jun 12th 2007 1:15AM]

Same here. Misspellings seem too contrived and trite on a blog with readership such as Engadget's.

[humpty @ Jun 11th 2007 7:37PM]

China is going to take over the freakin' world.

[John Doe @ Jun 11th 2007 11:54PM]

Hope not. Chinese, from what I understand, is a bitch to learn.

[Kip HT @ Jun 12th 2007 2:17AM]

Actually, English is harder, with all it's stupid grammar and multiple uses of the same word. Ask someone who has learnt English and another language as their second languages and they will tell you that English is much harder

[heeeat @ Jun 11th 2007 7:53PM]

could it turn into a disaster?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Gorges_Dam#Criticism

[Big @ Jun 11th 2007 8:06PM]

WHAT YOU WON'T HEAR ABOUT...
is how the Chinese government uprooted many Chinese citizens without compensating them for their "shanty" homes which the government felt were useless.
What you won't hear is how 9/10 Geologists (experienced Geologists) agree that the 3 Gorges Dam is an Ecological disaster and will ultimately present many problems in that area due to the fact that

#1 It will reduce the amount of sediment arriving in Shanghai.
#2 It will permanently alter the Yangtze River (causing deep scarring and unforseen wildlife changes)

#3 it will present a huge target for terrorism should the REPUBLIC OF CHINA (Taiwan) ever go to war with the PRC.


I lived in China for 2 years. This was big news there.

[Peter @ Jun 11th 2007 8:59PM]

You are correct. This project, like many other initiatives in China, is short sighted. China may surge ahead in the world economy for the next 10-20 years, but their level of growth and depletion of resources is unsustainable.

[A Chinamen living in Canada @ Jun 12th 2007 12:08AM]

What is really shocking is that no one talked about the huge archeological resource that has been lost under the new resevoir. There were great neolithic, pre-bronze age societies that predated China by thousands of years that the Chinese government has been trying to hide for no good reason.

Ok, now, speaking as a geologist myself, geologists study rocks not ecology ... so if you really did talk to 10 geologists, and 9 of them were against the dam because of ecological concerns ... then you got a lot of meaningless opinions. Ask an ecologist about ecology, not a geologist.

How will the dam cause deep scarring? what is being scarred? There is no scarring going on. If anything its the reverse, there will be a buildup of sediments behind the dam.

The river will not be permanently altered. In 100 years, you could blow up the dam and the river will immediately establish it's old route that it followed for thousands of years. Then huge areas of fertile soil will be exposed as the resevoir drains, exposing all the sediments that the dam held back.

If China attacks Taiwan one day ... then China will get what they deserve if Taiwan, or the USA retaliates by blowing up the dam ... If it is a war between two nations, then it is not terrorism, it is just a war. But, because the USA has vowed to prevent China from taking over China, China will never have the guts to attack Taiwan.

What makes you think Shanghai needs sediment? Did anyone ask them? I bet they will like not being flooded every year!

What about the great benefits of the dam? ... the huge amount of greenhouse gases that won't be added to the atmosphere because of the coal not burned? You can't be an ecologist and not be happy about all that coal that won't be burned because of the dam.

And finally ... WHO CARES! ... China has done so many horrible things to their people, but the people have not risen up and replaced their evil broken government.

If the Chinese people are so willing to be pathetic victims of their own government's actions, then they deserve all the horrible troubles their government gives them.

[Jamar @ Jun 12th 2007 12:33AM]

And why, pray tell, does Shanghai need more sediment? It's muddy enough here, we don't need *more*. Although now I have vivid daydreams of my school going under in a landslide of sorts now- bunch of little arsefaces, some of the students that I have to go to school with.

[How Sad @ Jun 12th 2007 2:04AM]

"And finally ... WHO CARES! "
Apparently, YOU care enough put so many words here. And you also threaten to use the dam to make damage to Chinese civilian people. What a horrible person you are!!! We are talking about tens of millions of people down stream!

[Jumbie @ Jun 11th 2007 8:28PM]

Less coal pollution = good.

Hope this is successful.

[aStopperBy @ Jun 11th 2007 9:30PM]

World's worst environmental disaster + massive deforestation + destruction of Yangtze river ecosystem + many angry Chinese peasants locked in jails + bureaucratic waste + poor planning = BAD

[NitroNeo @ Jun 12th 2007 8:31AM]

Don't forget that all the flooding caused by this dam has caused China to loose a lot of history. There were ancient writings lost many cities, many houses, etc.

Also, many lives have been thrown into total chaos by this dam. Most of these people who were negatively affected by the dam don't know any other way of living.

Finally the Chinese have nuclear technology, so the creation of this dam was far too costly for the benefits it creates, both financially & ethically.

[Karim @ Jun 11th 2007 8:32PM]

When asked what this dam meant for China, government spokesperson Xian Palpatine shouted, "POWER!!! UNLIMITED POWER!!!!"

He then turned to his apprentice and said, "Every environmentalist is now an enemy of the People's Republic."

[drtekger @ Jun 11th 2007 9:48PM]

I am currently living in China and rumours have it that this thing already has some serious cracks going on.

[umijin @ Jun 11th 2007 10:11PM]

This thing is already an ecological disaster, and a human disaster for the millions that were displaced. And the electricity generated doesn't go to people in that region.

Yeah, it's not a coal-fired plant. But that doesn't justify its costs.

[Hernan Paredes @ Jun 11th 2007 10:11PM]

i'm all for a step away from coal dependency. hopefully they'll get the kinks worked out. kinks are to be expected.

[Jason Masters @ Jun 12th 2007 7:07AM]

Kinks? These problems are not Kinks. Go away from coal but go to something better than this. This is causing huge problems already. Entire villages are under water. My girlfriend was adopted and when we went back to china to visit her village we found that it had been completely sunken underwater by this dam.

[Mike @ Jun 11th 2007 10:29PM]

Anyone have a Google Earth link?

[bnet504 @ Jun 11th 2007 10:50PM]

http://maps.google.com/maps?t=k&q=30.83,111.01&ie=UTF8&ll=30.832382,111.024055&spn=0.137672,0.233459&z=12&om=1

[Mike @ Jun 11th 2007 11:08PM]

Thanks!

[Paul @ Jun 12th 2007 8:37PM]

Street View?

/ sorry...

[bnet504 @ Jun 11th 2007 10:55PM]

By the way, I remember seeing a show on the Discovery Channel about a year ago discussing all the historical artifacts (and displaced families) that were lost due to an inadequate span of time provided by the government to collect the artifacts before everything in the area behind the dam was flooded.

[Lee Roy Brandon III @ Jun 11th 2007 11:46PM]

There is absolutely nothing to worry about, as long as you don't live downstream...

[Ian @ Jun 12th 2007 2:14AM]

Well, if the dam lives up to the usual Chineese quality then it shouldn;t be too long before the thing just falls over. Then the guy who ran the project will be executed after it was revealed he took bribes from shady construction firms. The question is did they get the genuine dam or is it a cheap knock-off?

[chengdude @ Jun 12th 2007 11:06AM]

"huge areas of fertile soil will be exposed as the reservoir drains"??

Have you been on the Yangtze? Yeah, there'll probably be enough human and animal waste in the sediment to make Death Valley look like Napa Valley, but figuring industy, agricultural runoff, illegal dumping and submerged towns upriver, there will also be enough toxic sludge down there to spawn an army of super-mutants.

[Marcus @ Jun 15th 2007 2:36PM]

I understand the downsides of the Dam (displacing people, sediment, etc) but I wish I stilled lived in a world that would venture beyond current boundaries and at least attempt to achieve the great.