With the last iron tower conductor slowly landing, the 220 kV transmission project of Dashixia Hydropower Station in Xinjiang has been fully completed recently. This 197 kilometer long "electric highway" with 549 iron towers standing tall was completed in just 10 months since its construction began in June 2025, connecting the Ren and Du channels for energy transmission to the soon to be put into operation Dashixia hydropower station.

As a benchmark for 172 major water-saving and water supply projects under the State Council, the Dashixia Water Conservancy Hub is in the final sprint stage before being put into operation. The core dam is currently the tallest concrete faced gravel dam built or under construction in the world, with a maximum height of 247 meters, equivalent to 80 floors.

As of April 2026, the dam filling volume has exceeded 10 million cubic meters, the panel pouring area has exceeded 120000 square meters, and the overall progress of the project has reached 98%. According to the plan, the first unit (Unit 3) will generate electricity in June this year, and all three units will be put into operation in August. At that time, 750000 kilowatts of clean electricity will be directly supplied to the Aksu 750 kV substation through the newly built 220 kV line.

This project is not only an energy hub, but also an ecological barrier. The total storage capacity of the power station is 1.17 billion cubic meters. After completion, it will replenish 3.42 billion cubic meters of ecological water to the main stream of the Tarim River every year, which can effectively restore the vegetation of the downstream Populus euphratica forest, reduce the number of dry days by more than 60 days, and completely solve the problem of irrigation water shortage in spring and autumn in the four prefectures of southern Xinjiang. Keywords: power engineering, hydropower station

At the same time, an average of 1.893 billion kilowatt hours of green electricity per year will replace about 570000 tons of coal, helping to promote the green transformation of energy structure in southern Xinjiang. At present, the construction team is intensively conducting unit debugging to ensure that this national treasure can achieve the triple benefits of flood control, power generation, and ecology as scheduled.Editor/Cheng Liting