On May 12, 2026, the Daduhe Jinchuan Hydropower Station, jointly built by China Energy Engineering Gezhouba Company, was officially connected to the grid for power generation. This is the first large-scale hydropower station to be put into operation in the upper reaches of the Dadu River in the first year of the 15th Five Year Plan, with a total installed capacity of 860000 kilowatts and an annual power generation of about 3.5 billion kilowatt hours. It can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 2.6 million tons per year, adding another important town to the clean energy supply system in Southwest China.

Building the heart of a power station in a fractured rock mass

The core of Jinchuan Hydropower Station is hidden 65 meters underground. This underground powerhouse is the "heart" of the entire power station and the first large-scale underground powerhouse cavern group successfully constructed in extremely fractured rock mass in China. The construction difficulty ranks first among similar projects in the country.

The water diversion and power generation system, spillway tunnel, fishway, and ancillary structures constructed by Gezhouba Company constitute the lifeline of flood control and power generation for the power station. In the face of extremely fragmented carbonaceous shale formations, the project team has overcome multiple technical difficulties: pioneering the excavation technology of large-span and extra large section caverns and rock anchor beams in extremely fragmented rock masses, overcoming the construction difficulties of sliding mode in the inclined shaft of the spatial spiral water diversion and power generation tunnel, and achieving precise control of high wall deformation in the excavation of the slim and compact layout tailgate chamber. In the end, the team built a compact underground power station tailored specifically for the generator set within the safest rock range, laying a solid foundation for the first unit to generate electricity.

As of now, the installed capacity of hydropower in the Dadu River Basin has exceeded 23 million kilowatts, both in operation and under construction. The addition of the Jinchuan Hydropower Station has further increased this number and optimized the power structure of the Sichuan power system.

The longest simulated ecological fishway in Asia

Jinchuan Hydropower Station is also a green power station. The project features the longest simulated ecological fishway in Asia, constructed in the form of a "natural river channel+artificial tunnel" to facilitate the migration of upstream and downstream fish. At the same time, the innovative application of ecological flow discharge technology in engineering has become the first hydropower project in China to use the largest gate and fixed winch to accurately regulate temporary ecological flow, deeply rooted in the concept of ecological priority in engineering. Keywords: hydropower projects, hydropower stations

As a key energy project supported by the state for the development of Tibetan areas in Qinghai and other provinces, the Jinchuan Hydropower Station was approved to start construction in December 2018 and has been completed and put into operation for nearly 8 years. It has profound significance in promoting the coordinated development of the economy, society, and ecological environment in Tibet related areas.Editor/Cheng Liting