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Bettesworth Construction
China hydropower

China’s Tallest Dam: Shuangjiangkou Begins Generating Power as Construction Continues

Shuangjiangkou has begun generating power, with three units operating by August 31, 2026. Its planned 315-metre dam was still being raised in July, with completion targeted for 2027.

By Bettesworth Construction Team 3 min read
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Shuangjiangkou is not finished: its planned 315-metre dam was still being raised in the latest construction-progress report, even as three of its four generating units had entered operation by August 31, 2026. The project is on the Dadu River in Sichuan, China, and its generating station has begun delivering electricity while dam filling continues toward a reported 2027 target.

What has been completed—and what has not?

There are two separate milestones. CHN Energy said on September 1, 2026, that three units had entered operation on August 31. The first unit was connected to the grid on June 26, and the operator reported that the station had delivered 500 million kilowatt-hours since that first unit began operating. These milestones establish that generation had started; they do not establish that the dam itself was complete.

In a July 10, 2026, construction-progress report, dam filling had reached 260 metres, with 55 metres remaining to the planned 315-metre height. The report gave 2027 as the target for completing the filling. That was a forecast at the time, not a confirmed completion date. The September operator announcement reported the generating-unit milestone but did not say the dam crest had been completed.

CHN Energy’s September 1, 2026, announcement covers unit operation and output to date; the July 10 report carried by the National Energy Administration’s Power Reliability Management and Engineering Quality Supervision Center describes dam-fill progress.

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Where is the Shuangjiangkou project?

The hydropower station is on the Dadu River in Sichuan’s Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, at the boundary of Maerkang City and Jinchuan County. The prefecture’s Development and Reform Commission describes it as an upstream control reservoir in the planned cascade of Dadu River hydropower stations. The prefecture’s June 26, 2026, announcement reports its location and project details.

How tall is the dam, and what is it built from?

The planned maximum height is 315 metres. CHN Energy describes it as the world’s tallest dam. Its main structure is a gravel-soil core rockfill dam: an embankment whose central, low-permeability core is made from gravel and soil, with rockfill forming the main supporting body. The height is the planned figure; the July construction report’s 260-metre fill milestone shows that the structure had not yet reached it at that time.

The prefecture reports more than 46 million cubic metres of total dam-fill volume and a project investment above 36 billion yuan. Those are figures published by the local government commission, not independent cost or quantity assessments.

How much power is it designed to produce?

The station is designed for 2,000 megawatts from four 500-megawatt Francis turbine-generator units. CHN Energy estimates average annual generation of about 7.7 billion kilowatt-hours. That is a projected annual average, distinct from the operator’s reported 500 million kilowatt-hours delivered between the first unit’s start in June and its September announcement.

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The operator gives reservoir capacity as about 2.9 billion cubic metres. Aba Prefecture reports 2.897 billion cubic metres; the rounded operator figure is sufficient for a general scale comparison without implying greater precision.

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Why is the reservoir part of a larger river system?

Official project descriptions assign Shuangjiangkou roles beyond electricity generation: regulating water in the upper Dadu River, supporting flood control and water allocation, and coordinating with downstream stations in the river’s hydropower cascade. CHN Energy estimates the reservoir could add about 6.6 billion kilowatt-hours of annual generation at downstream cascade stations. That is the operator’s projected system benefit, not an independently evaluated or confirmed operating result in the cited announcements.

What makes construction difficult?

The July engineering report describes a high-altitude gorge with steep slopes, high in-situ stress, seismic challenges and winter temperatures that can fall to minus 20°C. It says effective construction time is less than six months a year. The report also says the underground powerhouse is designed to house the four generating units and gives 2,510 metres as the target elevation at the top of the dam.

According to the construction-team account carried in that report, 27 sun-tracking mirrors were used to warm the core-wall work area. The team said they raised its temperature by about 3°C and enabled roughly three additional effective construction hours per day. These are reported construction-team figures, rather than independently measured findings.

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What the published figures do—and do not—show

The project specifications, early generation milestone and dam-fill progress are established by announcements from CHN Energy, Aba Prefecture and the engineering-quality supervision center. The sources cited here do not provide enough information to assess environmental impacts, effects on local communities, resettlement, or the operator’s projected downstream benefits independently. Those questions require separate authoritative evidence.

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