Located in Yongjing County, Gansu Province, Liujiaxia Hydraulic Complex is a large-scale multipurpose water project on the main stream of the Yellow River and the 7th cascade hydropower station in the development plan of the upper reaches of the Yellow River. Initiated in September 1958 and completed in 1974, it is a large hydropower project designed and constructed independently by China during the period of the 1st Five-Year Plan (1953-1957), with a total investment of 638 million yuan. Liujiaxia Hydraulic Complex is mainly designed for power generation, with such supplementary benefits as flood control, irrigation, ice-jam prevention, navigation, aquaculture, etc. After completion, it became the largest hydraulic complex in China at that time and was known as the "Pearl of the Yellow River". In November 2018, Liujiaxia Hydraulic Complex was inscribed into the National Industrial Heritage List.
Liujiaxia Hydraulic Complex
Power generation
Five hydroelectric units are totally installed in Liujiaxia Hydropower Station with a installed capacity of 1.225 million kW, and its first 225,000 kW unit was put into operation in March 1969. As China's first megawatt hydropower station, Liujiaxia Hydropower Station is capable of generating 5.7 billion kWh annually. Its power plant is about 25 meters wide, 180 meters long and 20 stories high, with 5 large China-made turbines at the center, supplying power to Shaanxi, Gansu, Qinghai and other provinces. Mainly undertaking the tasks of power generation, peak regulation, frequency regulation and voltage regulation, Liujiaxia Hydropower Station is a backbone power station and plays a pivotal role in the northwestern power grid of China.
Liujiaxia Hydropower Project
Irrigation
Liujiaxia Reservoir records a total capacity of 5.7 billion m3, a controlled watershed area of 173,000 km2 and an average annual flow of 834 m3/s. The dam is a concrete gravity one with a height of 147m, a length of 204m and a top width of 16m. Every year, Liujiaxia reservoir supplies 800 million m3 of water for spring irrigation in Gansu, Ningxia and Inner Mongolia. The irrigation guarantee rate increases from 65% to 85%, and the irrigation area rises from 670 thousand hectares to 1.07 million hectares.
Flood control
Liujiaxia Reservoir improves the flood control standard of downstream cascade hydropower stations and Lanzhou city, so that the standard of 1000 year return period of downstream Yanguoxia Hydropower Station is increased to 2000 year return period, and the peak discharge of 100 year return period of Lanzhou city is reduced from 8,080 m3/s to 6,500 m3/s.
Liujiaxia Reservoir
Ice-jam prevention
Ice-jam disaster is a natural disaster that has hit the Yellow River for many years. In the spring-thawing period, water swells, ice breaks and floating ice blocks dams, thus causing serious ice-jam disasters characterized by river flooding and dike failure. After Liujiaxia Reservoir was put into use, about 700 km of the downstream area were protected from ice-jam hazards, and no major ice-jam disasters took place in the past 20 years.
Water supply
After completion, Liujiaxia Reservoir meets industrial and urban water demands of Lanzhou city, Yinchuan city and other downstream cities, rendering about 700,000 m3 of industrial water to Lanzhou city every day.
