In its history of 46 years, GXED has distinguished itself by many ‘No.1’, ‘the largest’ and the ‘initiate’ in China in its survey and design for hydropower projects at the time of construction: The first ship lock capable of passing through 1000t ships, the first RCC dam with a height of more than 100m, the first large-sized penstock with a diameter of 10.8m, the first enclosed type powerhouse in river channel loading the maximum water pressure, with the largest turbine spiral case made of reinforced concrete, the most powerful vertical ship lifter, the generator runner with the largest diameter, the largest spillway arch gate, the powerhouse steel structure with the largest span, the largest sluice gate using semi-automatic hoisting dead bolt, the initiating and first application of surface flow dissipation technology for spillway, and the initiating of combined dissipation technology by flaring pier and stilling basin. GXED’s accomplishment are justified by the more than 100 medals of national, ministerial and provincial levels for its excellent design and contribution to science and technology progress, of which 21 medals are of the national level.
Dahua hydropower station constructed in Oct. 1975 is the first large-sized power station on the Hongshui rive with a dam length of 1166m and a height of 83.28m. Primary purpose of the project is power generation, with navigation and irrigation as its secondary benefits. The installed capacity in Phase I is 400MW, to be extended to 600MW. The No.1 unit was put into operation on Dec. 1, 1983 and the whole project was completed in June 1985. Dahua project won the National Silver Medal for Excellent Engineering Survey and the National Silver Medal for High Quality Project in 1987and the National Gold Medal for Excellent Design in 1988.
As the fifth cascade on Hongshui river, Yantan is the first hydropower station in Guangxi with an installed capacity of more than 1000MW. The project is composed of dam, powerhouse at dam toe, switchyard and vertical ship lifter. The dam, with a crest height of 110m and a total length of 525m, is the first RCC dam with a height of more than 100m. The four penstocks embedded in the dam with a diameter of 10.8m are the largest penstocks at that time in China. The ship lifter is capable of lifting 250t ship to a height of 69.5m. With an installed capacity of 1210MW, the yearly energy output of the project is 5.66billion kW.h. The first unit was put into operation in 1992, which is ahead of schedule, and all the four units started operation on June 4, 1995. The project owns many initiations in design, construction and management, providing valuable experience in the construction of hydropower projects both home and abroad. Yantan won the National Gold Medal for Excellent Design.
Bailongtan hydropower station, the first moderate-sized power station financed by the way of joint-stock, is the seventh cascade on Hongshui river with the installed capacity of 6 x 32MW. The ship lock is capable of passing 250t ship team. Commenced in Feb. 1993, the first unit was put into operation in 1996. As one of the key projects in the ‘Eighth-Five-Year Plan’ of Guangxi, Bailongtan is the first non-attended power station in Guangxi (less attended in early stage).
Downstream powerhouse of the 600MW Letan hydropower station under construction, which is the extension of E-tan project. With the large-scale 3D FEM computation software imported from the American Ansys, which is highly accurate in calculation with precise math model, the design assumes reasonable loads for various work conditions. The application of the advanced software in design calculation of powerhouse and erection room saves more than 20 million yuan.
Pingban hydropower station is the third cascade on Hongshui river, also one of the six large and moderate sized hydropower stations designed by GXED on the river.
Xijing hydropower station—the milestone in hydropower construction in Guangxi. It is the first project in the ten-cascade planning of Yujiang river. Design of the project began in Sep. 1958 and the project was completed in June 1964. It is the first project to apply the surface flow dissipation technology on the dam on big rivers with a unit discharge of 129m3/s. The ship lock completed in Jan. 1966 is the first one in China capable of passing through 1000t grade ships. This project won the Medal of Guangxi Science Conference in 1978.
