A ceremony for inviting public bid for principal part of the underground powerhouse of the Three Gorges Project is held in Yichang, Hubei province on Dec 8th. This is the first time that the major project of the powerhouse has invited bid publicly since the constitution plan is approved by the Three Gorges Project Construction Committee. It signifies the construction of the underground power plant will prelude.

According to a report on the Three Gorges Project, a position for an underground power plant is reserved in mountains to the right side of the great dam. The plant compromises intake tower, diversion canal, 500kv transformer substation etc. Upon completion, the underground plant will add six 700,000 kw-generator unit to the Three Gorges Power Station, and thus increasing its installed capacity from 18.2 million kilowatts to 22.4 million kilowatts.

By People's Daily Online