Birla Institute of Technology

DAM & WATER POWER

ENGG.
ASSIGNMENT
3 GORGES DAM
MADE
MADE BY
BY
DIVYANSHU
DIVYANSHU SHEKHAR
SHEKHAR
BE/10290/13
BE/10290/13

WHAT IS 3 GORGES DAM?

TheThree Gorges Damis ahydroelectric dam that

spans theYangtze River by the town ofSandouping,
located inYiling District,Yichang,Hubei
province,China. The Three Gorges Dam is theworld's
largest power stationin terms ofinstalled
capacity(22,500MW). In 2014 the dam generated
98.8 TWh of electricity, setting a new world record.

Except for a ship lift, the dam project was completed

and fully functional as of July 4, 2012, when the last of
the main turbines in the underground plant began
production. Each main turbine has a capacity of 700
MW. The dam body was completed in 2006. Coupling the
dam's 32 main turbines with two smaller generators (50
MW each) to power the plant itself, the total electric
generating capacity of the dam is 22,500 MW.

Working

WHAT IS ITS ROLE?

The primary aims of the dam are to alleviate flooding on the

Yangtze River and generate power. Fourteen turbine generator
units are already in operation.As well as producing electricity,
the dam is intended to increase the Yangtze River's shipping
capacity and reduce the potential for floods downstream by
providing flood storage space. The Chinese government regards
the project as a historic engineering, social and economic
success, with the design of state of the art large turbines, and
a move toward limiting greenhouse gas emissions.

Its Merits
Flood Control.
Chinese officials note that the dam will relieve the danger of
flooding.
Emissions reduction.
Another advantage of the dam is to reduce emissions of
sulphur dioxide and carbon dioxide.
China is enforcing tight rules aimed at preventing construction
work from causing environmental pollution, while advanced
facilities are being installed to treat construction waste .

ITS DEMERITS

EFFECT ON EARTH
The reservoir will contain about 39.3 cu km (9.43 cubic
miles) of water. That water will weigh more than 39 trillion
kilograms (42 billion tons).
A shift in a mass of that size would affect the rotation of
the Earth due to a phenomena known as the moment of
inertia, which is the inertia of a rigid rotating body with
respect to its rotation. The moment of inertia of an object
about a given axis describes how difficult it is to change its
angular motion about that axis. The longer the distance of
a mass to its axis of rotation, the slower it will spin.

 Raising 39 trillion kilograms of water 175 meters

above sea level will increase the Earths moment of
inertia and thus slow its rotation. However, the
effect would be extremely small.NASA scientists
calculated that shift of such a mass would increase
the length of day by only 0.06 microseconds and
make the Earth only very slightly more round in the
middle and flat on the top. It would shift the pole
position by about two centimeters (0.8 inch).

Environmental Impact
Emissions
According to the National Development and Reform Commission of China,
366grams of coal would produce 1kWh of electricity during 2006.
Erosion and sedimentation
At current levels, 80% of the land in the area is experiencing erosion,
depositing about 40million tons ofsedimentinto theYangtzeannually.
Earthquakes and landslides
Erosion in the reservoir, induced by rising water, causes frequent
majorlandslidesthat have led to noticeable disturbance in the reservoir
surface, including two incidents in May 2009 when somewhere between 20,000
and 50,000 cubic metres (26,000 and 65,000cuyd) of material plunged into
the flooded Wuxia Gorge of theWu River.Also, in the first four months of
2010, there were 97 significant landslides.

Navigation
The dam is provided with

1. Ship Locks
2. Ship Lift
3. Portage railways

PICS

Controversies
The Chinese state regards the project as a historic
engineering, social and economic success, with the
design of state-of-the-art large turbines, and a
move toward limiting greenhouse gas emissions.
However, the dam flooded archaeological and cultural
sites and displaced some 1.3million people, and is
causing significant ecological changes, including an
increased risk of landslides.
The dam has been a controversial topic both in China
and abroad.

THE THREE GORGES DAM SIDE

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 THANK YOU!!