Tallest Dams in the World
The tallest dam in the world is the Jinping-II Dam in China. The Jinping-II Dam is 315 meters high and was completed in 2008. The largest dam in the world is the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River in China. The Three Gorges Dam is 4,500 meters long and was completed in 2003.
Jinping-I Dam
The Jinping-I Dam is an earth-fill embankment dam on the Jinsha River in Sichuan Province, China. The dam is the largest hydroelectric power station in the world by installed capacity with 22,500 MW of installed capacity and generates 86 TWh of electricity annually. This powerhouse dam produces more than 10% of China’s total electricity.
However, while it has significantly reduced, the risk of flooding, it has also led to annual erosion of the riverbed which releases large amounts of sediment into waters downstream. The Jinping-I Dam is located on the Jinsha River in Sichuan Province, which is a tributary of the Yangtze and flows into Lake Hongjian.
Hoover Dam
The Hoover Dam was a major engineering feat that has helped provide electricity to the southwest desert regions. The dam was built in the early 1930s. The Hoover Dam is one of the most iconic American engineering feats in history as it was constructed using only limited resources, primarily manpower, some dynamite, and an average of 35 gallons of concrete per hour. It also helped reshape America’s view on power generating dams as it became a model for future dam construction.
Hoover dam is concrete arch gravity dam having the height 221.4m. The length of the dam is 379m.
Jinping-II Dam
The Jinping-II Dam is a hydroelectric project that is currently under construction in China. When completed, the dam will produce 22.5 GW of power and will have a total capacity of 39.8 billion cubic meters of water storage space. The Jinping-II dam will be the largest hydropower project in the world, with a capacity that eclipses France’s current biggest dam, Grand’Ma ison.
The Jinping-II Dam is being constructed in the Jinping River which is located in the city of Yanqing, China. The Jinping River flows through a narrow valley and provides water to six million people who live in Anhui, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang provinces. This ambitious project will increase hydroelectric power generation capacity by 22 percent while also creating over 38 billion cubic meters of reservoir storage space to meet the needs of an ever-growing and increasingly industrialized population.
Xiaowan Dam
The Xiaowan Dam is a concrete gravity-dam on the Jialing River in Nan’an, China. The dam was designed and built by the Soviet Union in 1972 and completed in 1973. .The main purpose of the dam is to provide electricity, irrigation and flood control. The generator installed at the top of the dam produces 330 MW of electricity.The Xiaowan Dam flooded a large area near its base, including large parts of Leqiu Township for a short time.
Baihetan Dam
Haihetan dam is a hydroelectric power station in the north of Sichuan province, China. The dam is designed to provide water for the local agricultural industry, while also providing electricity to Chengdu city. With a height of 318 meters and 8.3 million cubic meters of concrete, Haihetan dam is the third highest in the world.
The dam was constructed between 1961 and 1965.Haihetan is located in the foothill of the Dapeng Mountains, west of Chengdu city. Haihetan reservoir is about 100 km long with a total capacity of 2,971 million cubic meters. The dam is 318 meters tall and has an installed capacity of 2,112 megawatts or 832 megawatts by tunneled conduit submerged under the water level to minimize impact on local flora and fauna.
Xiluodu Dam
Constructing the Xiluodu Dam is a huge project for the Chinese government. The dam is designed to help meet country’s growing energy needs and improve urban water supply. The project will provide clean water and power to millions of people in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei.
