China to run major hydropower plant by year-end

BEIJING, Sept 3 - China will begin to fully operate its third-largest hydropower station by the end of this year, the official Xinhua News Agency reported on Wednesday.

Longtan hydropower station in south China's Guangxi region, consisting of seven generators that have 700 megawatts of generating capacity each, is expected to cost 30 billion yuan ($4.38 billion), Xinhua said.

Construction of the plant started in 2001 and the first generator was put into use in 2007.

More than 80,000 residents in 10 counties in Guangxi and neighbouring Guizhou province had been relocated for the project, the report said.

The Three Gorges power station, China's largest, is expected to house 26 hydropower generators that have 700 megawatts of capacity each by October this year and Xiluodu, the second largest, will have 18 generators of the same size each when construction is completed in 2017.

China has 145 gigawatts of hydropower generating capacity, the largest in the world. ($1=6.846 Yuan)