Three Gorges Dam

Monday, 22.10.2018

We have arrived at our final stop of our cruise. One hour by bus before the city of Yichang (宜昌市), we made our final stop. Our luggage was transported separately and we were taken by bus to the dam. The operating company not only generates electricity but also organizes the flow of visitors who come daily to see this century-old structure. That's how we met 'Coco'. She was our 'tour guide' on this tour. A young Chinese woman who had just completed her English studies and started her first job. She told us that she likes Shakespeare and Coco Chanel (hence her name). She recited the facts again, like how long it took to relocate about 1.2 million people and how willingly everyone had done it. During the further course of the tour, we learned that the power plant's 31 turbines generate 20 gigawatts of power, which is only 3% of today's energy demand. When the power plant was planned in the 80s and 90s, the energy was supposed to be enough to cover 30% of the demand.

The security precautions were very high. We were checked and scanned as if at the airport.

Then the bus took us to the visitor area.

Here we rode escalators up a hill from which we had a good view of the dam and the two ship lifts.

Half of the turbines come from Voith-Siemens and GE, the other half is built in China.