In my report I will discuss the Three Gorges Dam and the Hover Dam. The Three Gorges dam is being built in China, and the Hover Dam is in the United States. The Three Gorges dam is a hydroelectric river dam that impounds the Yangtze River in Sandouping, Hubei, and Yichanga, China. It is the largest hydroelectric station in the world. The dam wall is made of concrete and is 7,575 feet long and 331 feet tall. The concrete walls are 131.2 feet thick at the top and 377.3 feet thick at the bottom. The total estimate of concrete used is 35,600,000 cubic yards. They also had to move 102,600,000 cubic meters of earth to build the dam. The dam is still under construction, but when finished the project will have cost about one hundred billion Yuan, just under thirty billion US dollars.
Around fifty-four Chinese engineers were sent to the United States for training to start building the dam. They worked on exploration, surveying, economics, and design for the dam, but work was halted in 1947 due to the government. Some engineers that spoke out against the dam saying it would not work were put in jail. During the 1980s plans for the dam were revised. In 1992 the National People’s Congress approved the dam. The construction of the dam finally started in 1994. It was expected to be fully operational by 2009, but due to the addition of six additional generators, it is expected to be operational in 2011. It will have thirty-four generators total. Thirty-two of them are main generators, each with a capacity of seven hundred MW. Fourteen are in the north side of the dam, twelve in the south side of the dam. After completion, the expected annual electricity generation would be over one hundred TWh, which is more than eighteen percent predicated. The Three Gorges Dam uses Francis Turbines, which are the most efficient turbine in the world.