The Baihetan hydropower station is located on the Jinsha River, the upper section of the Yangtze River, spanning the southwestern provinces of Yunnan and Sichuan. The hydropower station has a total installed capacity of 16 GW and is equipped with 16 hydro-generating units, each with a capacity of 1 GW, the world’s largest single capacity.

Second only to the Three Gorges Project in the central Chinese province of Hubei, the operation of Baihetan marked the completion of the world’s largest clean energy corridor. In this corridor, six mega hydropower stations on the Yangtze collaborate to transmit electricity from the resource-rich west to energy-consuming regions in the east.

The full operation of Baihetan is of great significance to China’s transition in its energy mix, the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, and the coordinated development of the regional economy in the country.

The six hydropower stations on the Yangtze River, all managed by CTG, are expected to generate 300 TWh of electricity annually. This substantial output will lower coal consumption by 90 million tonnes and carbon emissions by 248 million tonnes.

Four of these hydropower station -- Wudongde, Baihetan, Xiluodu, and Xiangjiaba -- are located on the Jinsha River, the upper section of the Yangtze River, while the other two -- Three Gorges and Gezhouba -- are on the middle section of the Yangtze.