More Power to You

China's energy consumption is growing at a mindboggling clip of around 16% per year, that means that in terms of new energy sources, China must produce the equivalent of one new Canada every four years just to keep up. One of the biggest sources of output will be the hydroelectricity project at the 3 Gorges Dam. When completed in 5 years, they say it will be able to meet 10% of the entire country's needs, and will have a maximum capacity of 18,000 megawatts spread out over 26 separate power plants. That is over 10 times the output of the Niagara Falls facilities which feed much of southern Ontario and upstate New York. 
 
Another plus is that it is a clean energy source. China aspires to wean itself off coal as its main source of energy, and the proven technology of hydroelectricity is still very attractive, especially in south China where there is a great abundance of water resources. 
 
The 3 Gorges Dam project has an estimated overall cost of $30 billion US, and the builders say they can recoup the costs in just a matter of years from selling the electricity. Will all of this come to pass? Will the dam ever live up to its original big billing? Only time will tell, and hindsight is 100%.

last modified Dec 29, 2004 at 6:26

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