The reservoir of the Longtan hydropower project, China's third largest hydroelectric plant, began storing water on Saturday when four sluice gates were lowered to stop the flow of the Hongshui River.
The project is a key component of the government's campaign to develop the western regions and to bring electricity to the economically developed but energy-demanding eastern and coastal areas.
The water storage would enable the project to begin generating next May, two months ahead of schedule, said Dai Bo, general manager of Longtan Hydropower Development Co with the China Datang Corporation.
It would take eight to 18 days to raise the water level in the reservoir from 215 to 290.5 meters, and the level would rise to 375 meters in August 2009, said Zhong Jun, chairman of Longtan Hydropower Development, which is in charge of the water storage process.
The process would have no effect further down the Pearl River because another downstream hydropower project would increase the water discharge, said Deputy General Manager Long Xianjin.
Chu Yueting, another general manager, said the company had worked out countermeasures to possible problems, including earthquakes, silting and pollution.
Located in the southwest's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the Longtan project lies on the Hongshui River, a major tributary of the Pearl River. It is China's third largest after the Three Gorges Project on the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, and Xiluodu hydropower project on Jinsha River, a tributary of the Yangtze.
An investment of 30 billion yuan (US$3.75 billion) from China Datang Corporation was used to build the 216.5-meter-high dam, a ship lock and an underground generating house with nine turbo-generators with a total possible production of 6.3 million kilowatts.
Construction began in July 2001 and the project is scheduled to finish in 2009, with the first three generators in operation in May next year. It will be capable of generating 18.7 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually once completed.
More than 80,000 residents in 10 counties of Guizhou Province and Guangxi will be displaced by the construction. So far, 34,207 have been relocated to higher ground.
(Xinhua)