Liu Xiaoyan, assistant manager of a manufacturing firm in Xi'an, capital of Northwest China's Shaanxi Province, never thought that she may one day depend on some strange workers 1,000 kilometers away.

 

But now her concerns over the limited peak hours power supply which hampered her company this summer are being eased by construction workers in far-off Qinghai Province.

 

"Liu won't have to worry about power shortages when our hydropower station goes into operation in 2008," said Lu Zimin, who has been working at the site of the Laxiwa Hydropower Station since April. "Although she doesn't know us, I think our work will help her.

 

"The aim of the Laxiwa Hydropower Station is to adjust power supply in peak hours and play a supporting role in case of accidents on North and Northwest China's power network," said Yang Cunlong, general manager of Laxiwa Hydropower Station Construction Company.

 

"When it is put into operation, it will play a key role in maintaining a good supply for the area."

 

The Laxiwa Hydropower Station, located on the upper reaches of the Yellow River in Guide and Guinan counties, Qinghai Province, will have the biggest yet capacity of all the power stations along the Yellow River, the second-longest river in China, according to Wang Binghua, general manager of China Power Investment Group Company, which is building the station.

 

With investment totalling 14.9 billion yuan (US$1.9 billion), the total installed capacity will be 4,200 megawatts, with an annual average generating capacity of 10.2 billion kilowatt hours, Wang said.

 

According to designers from the Northwest Survey and Design Institute, the use of domestic facilities and materials, the good geological location and introduction of high-tech construction methods for the station's construction meant big savings for investors.

 

The average investment per kilowatt of capacity is only 3,456 yuan (US$432) for this station.

 

Compared with other hydropower stations which can cost 20,000 yuan (US$2,500) for a single kilowatt Laxiwa has very good profit margins, the designers said.

 

After two years of preparation, construction of the station officially began on April 15.

 

Because of rocky surrounding landscape, builders faced a number of difficulties, said Sun Yujun, deputy general manager of the construction company.

 

"The left bank of the dam, currently under construction, is on a rock fracture belt. The traditional construction method would be to cut off all the rocks in order to eliminate the danger of falling rocks, but it would both cost more and take longer," said Sun.

 

Instead builders have fixed the hillside back with awls, steel screening and cement. The designers estimate securing the fracture belt rather than cutting off the rocks saved two years of work and nearly 100 million yuan (US$12.5 million).

 

Behind the power station's 250-metre high dam, Laxiwa Reservoir will contain 1.08 billion cubic metres of water, which will be used to adjust the flow in the upper reaches of the Yellow River and provide water for local farmers. According to Wang Binghua, China's supply of running water, a potential source of clean renewable energy, is the biggest in the world, butt only 25 per cent of possible sources have been used.

 

(China Daily October 11, 2006)