Since ancient times, the area of big rivers has become a battleground for military strategists. The Yangtze River and the Yellow River have bred five thousand years of Chinese civilization. In modern times, the blue bloodline engraved on the territory of China has provided strong support for the rise of the country, and industrial parks have been built. From here, one hydropower station illuminates the lights of thousands of families. Transportation, tourism, economy, and humanities all rely on water resources to flourish. These rivers are affectionately referred to by the Chinese as "mothers".

The southwest region has many rivers and rich hydropower resources. As the largest tributary of the Jinsha River, the Yalong River is called Niyaqu in Tibetan, which means water with many fishes. Sanduizi from Panzhihua City enters the Jinsha River. Above the stone canal is the stone canal river, which flows through the hilly plateau area. The river bed is wide and shallow, and the water flow is scattered. Shiqu is called the Yalong River below. Because of the mountainous landforms gradually entering the alpine valley, it is one of the main north-south river systems in the Hengduan Mountains. The total length is 1,571 kilometers, the border of Sichuan is 1,357 kilometers, the drainage area is 136,000 square kilometers, and the annual average flow of the estuary is 1,860 cubic meters per second. This is Ruoshui.

Advantages of China's development of the Yalong River

The Yalong River has abundant water volume and large natural drop. The main and tributary streams contain abundant hydropower resources, but the amount of resource development in the early stage is extremely low. Some people have said that instead of building a large number of power transmission projects, it will not only cause loss of power racks and loss of power, but also Occupying land area has also destroyed farming areas to a certain extent. Why don’t we use the hydropower resources of this big river to build hydropower stations like the Three Gorges? , We ushered in the first water conservancy development of the Yalong River-Ertan Hydropower Station

Ertan Hydropower Station is the largest hydropower station built in China in the 20th century. Listening to this name, it has truly achieved an unprecedented realm. It is also the first engineering project for the development of Yalong River hydropower resources. From then on, the Yalong River truly Entering the level of national strategy, domestic and foreign hydropower experts at the time believed that after years of survey and design and investigation and demonstration, the local area had a hot and dry valley climate, abundant rainfall, strong mountains on both sides of the river section of the hydropower station dam site, narrow river valleys, and turbulent water flow. One of the best high dam sites in the world today; the overall design of the power station is reasonable; the construction of a 240-meter-high double-curved arch dam and a large underground powerhouse in Ertan has superior topography and geological conditions.

This place started to move in 1991. With the sound of firecrackers, large-scale machinery, and the shouts of construction workers, the Ertan Hydropower Station on the Yalong River in the first cascade of China's topography was started. After 8 years, the river was successfully "forced intervention" by manpower. The first unit generated power in July 1998 and was completed in 2000. The maximum dam height of the hydropower station is 240 meters, the normal storage level of the reservoir is 1200 meters above sea level, the total storage capacity is 5.8 billion cubic meters, the regulating storage capacity is 3.37 billion cubic meters, and the total installed capacity is 3.3 million. Kilowatts, guaranteed output of 1 million kilowatts, the average power generation for many years is 17 billion kilowatt-hours, and the investment is 28.6 billion yuan. The artificial lake formed by the construction of the Ertan Hydropower Station has also become an important scenic spot in the Ertan National Forest Park and an important water source for conserving water in the Shangri-La Ecosphere in Sichuan and Yunnan. The normal operation of the hydropower station, for comprehensive management and subsequent guarantee, on October 20, 2003, the National Development and Reform Commission issued a document clarifying that "Ertan Hydropower Development Co., Ltd. shall be responsible for the implementation of the development of the Yalong River hydropower resources" and "to be fully responsible for the development of Yalong River" Construction and management of cascade hydropower stations in the Longjiang River Basin". Since then, China has firmly tied the Yalong River to the national economy and people's livelihood.

Mitigating China's energy crisis

The establishment of Ertan Hydropower Development Co., Ltd. has completely opened the door to the Yalong River. Hydropower resources in various sections have been gradually developed. With the advent of the dual-carbon target task, the Yalong River once again shoulders the burden of new energy output. In September 2021, the world-class high earth-rock dam, China's highest one-million-kilowatt hydropower station, and the largest reservoir power station in Sichuan Province, the Yalong River Lianghekou Hydropower Station, was officially put into operation for power generation.

Construction of the Lianghekou Hydropower Station started in October 2014, closed in November 2015 and started cofferdam filling. The gates will be closed for water storage in December 2020, and the project is scheduled to be completed in 2023. The project is located in Yajiang County, Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province. The total approved investment is 66.457 billion yuan. The total installed capacity is 3 million kilowatts. The world’s second-highest earth-rock dam is also the first leading reservoir power station put into operation at the six hydropower bases in southwest China. The hydropower station has the world’s largest high-slope group of hydropower projects, the country’s highest flood discharge head, and the country’s largest flood discharge velocity complex cavern flood discharge facility. It is a leading reservoir developed by the Yalong River Basin Hydropower Development Co., Ltd. in the middle reaches of the Yalong River. The power station is a key project of the state and Sichuan Province, and a strategic project to optimize the structural adjustment of the energy supply side for the development of the western region.

After comprehensive analysis and scientific demonstration, the Yalong River Company has established the "Four-Phase Strategy for the Development of Hydropower Resources in the Yalong River Basin", planning to develop 22-level hydropower stations on the main stream of the Yalong River, with an installed capacity of approximately 30 million kilowatts. On the basis of the development of hydropower resources, a "four-stage" strategy for the development of new energy and pumped storage in the basin is proposed. According to the national plan, the Yalong River Basin is a demonstration base for green and clean renewable energy that complements the water and scenery of wind and solar power. The total scale exceeds 80 million kilowatts, of which wind power and photovoltaic power generation exceed 40 million kilowatts, and pumped storage power generation exceeds 10 million kilowatts. After completion, it will become one of the world's largest green and clean energy bases. The base has been included in the national "14th Five-Year Plan" and is one of the nine major clean energy bases in China.

Zhong Denghua, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said that Lianghekou Hydropower Station is the first 300-meter-level super-high earth-rock dam project built with "intelligent technology in the whole construction process", filling the gap in the construction of super-high earth-rock dams in high-cold areas and realizing the dam. The leap from digital to intelligent construction has created and led the new direction of intelligent construction of water conservancy and hydropower projects, which has important scientific significance and engineering value. Niu Xinqiang, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, believes that the Lianghekou Hydropower Station has innovated the theory, technical standards and complete construction technology of anti-seepage soil material freeze-thaw prevention and control in high-altitude areas at home and abroad, setting a precedent for large-scale continuous construction of soil core walls in plateau frozen soil areas in winter.

Lianghekou Hydropower Station brings surprises

"After the completion of the Lianghekou Hydropower Station, the Jinping I Hydropower Station and the Ertan Hydropower Station that have been built on the main stream of the Yalong River will form three joint regulating reservoirs, making the Yalong River a large river that can be adjusted for many years. It is the lower reaches of the Jinsha River and The compensation effect brought about by the hydropower stations on the main stream of the Yangtze River, that is, the increased power generation, is equivalent to three times its own power generation. Calculated in this way, it is equivalent to building 4 large coal mines with an annual output of 4 million tons less, which saves energy and reduces emissions. The results are remarkable." Bai Tao, Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and Chairman of the National Development and Investment Group Co., Ltd., introduced that the optimized dispatch of Lianghekou and other reservoirs and the rapid adjustment of hydropower units can further drive and promote the Yalong River with a total scale of over 80 million kilowatts. The coordinated development of water, wind, and clean energy in the river basin has greatly improved the overall utilization rate of clean energy in the Yalong River.

The Yalong River cascade power station has a total flood control capacity of 4.5 billion cubic meters. During the main flood season, the reservoir will give full play to the role of flood control and peak reduction, share the flood control pressure of the Yangtze River, and help flood control in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and the Sichuan-Chongqing reach; discharge will increase during the dry season. The flow is about 360 cubic meters per second, which can improve the shipping conditions in the low water period of the Jinsha River and some channels of the Yangtze River, and enhance the safety and capacity of shipping on the Yangtze River Channel. The "super reservoir" of hydropower stations can also effectively reduce the sediment content of downstream rivers, significantly improve the local microclimate of the reservoir area, bring the magnificent landscape of "the high gorge out of the Pinghu", and promote the development of local eco-tourism and eco-agriculture. The wetland function of the reservoir can also improve the local climate around the reservoir and promote plant growth, which is conducive to the conservation of water and soil resources and the improvement of the ecological environment in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, and plays an important role in the protection of the ecological barrier in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. Peng Cheng, general manager of the General Institute of Hydropower and Water Conservancy Planning and Design, believes that the Yalong River Basin has excellent conditions for integrated development and operation of water and scenery. The development of the best model of social cost for the development of new energy sources in the basin has made active explorations for the construction of a new power system with new energy as the mainstay in China, and formed a model that can be used for reference, replication and reference.

Zeng Decheng, deputy director of the Rural Revitalization Bureau of Ganzi Prefecture, Sichuan Province, said that the Lianghekou Hydropower Station is a large-scale power station with the largest installed capacity, the widest inundation area, the largest immigrant population, and the most special ethnic culture in Ganzi Prefecture, Sichuan Province. Involving the four counties of Yajiang, Daofu, Litang, and Xinlong in Ganzi Prefecture, it is the first in Sichuan ethnic minority area to conduct special research on immigration resettlement methods, compensation and subsidy systems, compensation for the relocation of religious temples, protection and inheritance of ethnic culture, and the results are obtained after transformation A large-scale hydropower project with substantial results; it is also a demonstration project of hydropower resettlement work in Ganzi Prefecture to explore the construction of resettlement projects + general contracting of construction. From the perspective of national strategy, it will scientifically promote the construction of a green and clean renewable energy demonstration base for water and wind complementation in the Yalong River Basin, which will provide a strong guarantee for China to achieve its "dual carbon" goal.

The Yalong River hydropower resources will be developed under the premise of protecting the ecological environment and plateau ecology. Dual carbon is the goal, and sustainable development is the bottom line. With the pressure of the energy crisis, the development of new energy will surely become the primary task of China’s strategy. During the critical period of economic and social development in a comprehensive green transition, the Yalong River brought well-being to the people of Southwest China and brought hope to China's low carbon.Editor/XingWentao