The Three Gorges Project: 20 Years of Perseverance, Creating a Great Miracle
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The Three Gorges Project: 20 Years of Perseverance, Creating a Great MiracleThe Three Gorges Dam officially began operation in 2003, marking a new development stage for this globally significant project. Through 20 years of challenges and achievements, the Three Gorges Project has not only injected strong momentum into China's economic development, but also achieved remarkable accomplishments in flood control, power generation, shipping, irrigation, and ecology, becoming a model for China's modernization and ecological civilization construction
The Three Gorges Project: 20 Years of Perseverance, Creating a Great Miracle
The Three Gorges Dam officially began operation in 2003, marking a new development stage for this globally significant project. Through 20 years of challenges and achievements, the Three Gorges Project has not only injected strong momentum into China's economic development, but also achieved remarkable accomplishments in flood control, power generation, shipping, irrigation, and ecology, becoming a model for China's modernization and ecological civilization construction.
Massive Investment, Forging a Steel Great Wall
The construction of the Three Gorges Project began in the early 1990s, a large-scale water conservancy project unprecedented in scale and facing daunting challenges. The riverbed along the Three Gorges region is composed of hard rock, with fast-flowing water, making construction extremely difficult. To build this steel Great Wall, hundreds of thousands of residents along the river were forced to relocate, their sacrifices laying a solid foundation for the successful completion of the Three Gorges Project.
The construction also encountered a range of technical difficulties, with no successful precedents to draw from, forcing engineering teams to overcome countless challenges firsthand. The project itself is massive, requiring extremely stringent quality standards for construction materials like concrete and steel, far exceeding conventional levels. How to withstand the impact and damage caused by extreme situations such as earthquakes and explosions was another crucial aspect for the engineering teams to consider and prioritize.
After 12 years of relentless efforts, the Three Gorges Project was finally completed in 2006. With a total investment of 250 billion yuan, equivalent to approximately 500 billion yuan in today's prices, it was an astronomical figure at the time, reflecting the grand scale of the project.
Direct Revenue Still Needs to Break Through, But Overall Benefits Exceed Expectations
The primary source of direct economic income from the Three Gorges Dam comes from power generation revenue. By the end of 2022, the Three Gorges Hydropower Station had generated over 1.6 trillion kWh of electricity, with an annual output of 78.79 billion kWh. Assuming a conservative grid electricity price of 0.25 yuan/kWh, the Three Gorges Hydropower Station's power generation revenue in 2022 was approximately 19.69 billion yuan. Based on this, the Three Gorges Dam's accumulated power generation revenue over the past 20 years is roughly 400 billion yuan.
Besides power generation, the Three Gorges Dam also generates significant tourism revenue. In recent years, the Three Gorges Dam has received approximately 3 million tourists annually. Assuming an average expenditure of 300 yuan per person, the annual tourism revenue is approximately 600 million yuan, totaling around 12 billion yuan over the past 20 years. Combining power generation and tourism revenue, the Three Gorges Dam's direct economic income over the past 20 years is approximately 412 billion yuan, a seemingly impressive figure.
However, operating the Three Gorges Project requires continuous investment in high-cost maintenance and labor. It is reported that the annual expenditure on operation, maintenance, and personnel salaries alone reaches billions of yuan. Considering these indirect costs, the Three Gorges Dam's actual total earnings over the past 20 years would be significantly reduced. Experts believe that after deducting all direct and indirect costs, the Three Gorges Dam's current net income has yet to fully recover the initial investment of approximately 250 billion yuan.
Flood Control Prowess, Safeguarding Innumerable Lives and Property
The Three Gorges Project's significance extends far beyond simple economic benefits, its core value lies in its comprehensive benefits, including flood control, power generation, and water resource regulation. From this perspective, the value of the Three Gorges Project has already surpassed its investment cost.
The Yangtze River basin is a major flood control priority in China, with severe risks of internal flooding and external drowning during the flood season. The Three Gorges Reservoir boasts a colossal capacity of 39.3 billion cubic meters, equivalent to 22% of the Yangtze River's annual runoff, fundamentally resolving the centuries-old flood control challenges in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.
According to official statistics, in the 2022 flood season alone, the Three Gorges Dam reduced flood peak flow in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River by 12.1 billion cubic meters. Based on a conservative flood control benefit estimate of 2 yuan per cubic meter, the Three Gorges Dam alone saved the country 24.2 billion yuan in flood damage in 2022.
More notably, during a major flood on the Yangtze River in 2020, the Three Gorges Reservoir played a decisive role, effectively blocking the raging flood peaks, saving the country billions of yuan in economic losses and protecting the lives and property of millions of residents along the river. The consequences would have been unimaginable if the Three Gorges Reservoir had not been a "bulwark" in those circumstances.
It is evident that the Three Gorges Project creates billions of yuan in flood control economic benefits every year, far exceeding the 2500 billion yuan investment during its construction phase. The Three Gorges Project has successfully addressed the major disaster hazards that threatened people's lives and property for centuries, its value being immeasurable in monetary terms.
Ecological Water Supplementing Demonstrates Effectiveness, Contributing to Green Development
Since its operation in 2003, the Three Gorges Dam has made significant contributions to providing clean energy for China, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, addressing climate change, and playing a crucial role in achieving the "dual carbon" goals.
Compared to coal-fired power generation, relying on hydropower avoids the combustion of large amounts of fossil fuels, reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Based on estimates, over the past 20 years, the Three Gorges Hydropower Station has reduced carbon dioxide emissions by a total of 1.9 billion tons, with emission reduction benefits reaching billions of yuan. This has significantly reduced China's total carbon emissions and made valuable contributions to global climate change mitigation.
The operational practice of the Three Gorges Project provides concrete support for China's strategic goals of "carbon peaking and carbon neutrality," becoming a model for the country's clean energy development.
Moreover, the Three Gorges Reservoir supplements ecological flow downstream according to plan every year, maintaining the basic ecological needs of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. In 2022, the Three Gorges Dam released 11.6 billion cubic meters of ecological water supplement, ensuring the smooth flow of the Yangtze River system.
Shipping Upgrade Achieves Breakthrough, Contributing to Economic Takeoff
The Three Gorges Project has also significantly improved shipping conditions along the Yangtze River's "golden waterway." Since the completion of the Three Gorges Reservoir, over 5,000 kilometers of water in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River have achieved navigability with a water depth of 12 meters or more, significantly enhancing the shipping capacity of the Yangtze River.
It is noteworthy that the Three Gorges Reservoir, through water level regulation and ecological water supplementation, also provides stable irrigation water sources for regions along the river, significantly improving agricultural production conditions and benefiting food security.
Comprehensive Benefits Exceed Expectations, Creating a Great Miracle
The Three Gorges Project has yielded significant comprehensive benefits, saving the country vast amounts of time and investment in promoting clean energy utilization, reducing pollution emissions, protecting the ecological environment, and ensuring agricultural production.
In fact, over the past 20 years, the Three Gorges Project has saved the country trillions of yuan in economic losses from floods, saving countless lives and property. Considering the comprehensive benefits of the Three Gorges Project over the past 20 years in flood control, power generation, shipping, irrigation, and ecological regulation, its total value is already an astronomical figure, far exceeding the investment cost of 250 billion yuan.
In this sense, the comprehensive benefits of the Three Gorges Project have already recouped the investment and will continue to create more comprehensive value for the country and people.
The Three Gorges Project is not only an outstanding representative of China's modernization but also a vivid practice of ecological civilization construction. Its comprehensive value in flood control, power generation, shipping, irrigation, etc., has already surpassed the realm of simple economics, bearing the major mission of supporting the country's modernization process, maintaining ecological security, and promoting green development. Therefore, the Three Gorges Project will continue to play a unique role, creating greater comprehensive benefits for the country and people, and writing a new chapter of glory.
Conclusion
The Three Gorges Project is a great project, embodying the wisdom and sweat of countless individuals, and carrying the aspirations of the Chinese people for a better life. Through 20 years of perseverance, the Three Gorges Project has become a model for China's modernization and ecological civilization construction. It will continue to contribute to the country's development and people's well-being, writing a new chapter of glory.
Finally, it is important to emphasize that this article is for reference only and cannot replace professional economic analysis and evaluation.
References
- State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council, The Three Gorges Project Operated Well in 2023 http://www.sasac.gov.cn/n16582853
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