The Three Gorges Dam in China is the world’s largest power plant, producing 18.3 GW in 2009 and expected to reach 22.5 GW in 2011. It has displaced over 1 million people and caused environmental concerns. The previous largest power plant was the Itaipu Dam on the Paraná River, which can produce up to 17.6 GW of power. Hydroelectric dams are limited by the size of the river, while nuclear and solar have no such limitations. A solar satellite installation may take over as the largest power plant in the future.
The largest power plant in the world is the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River in China. The project has been under development since 1994 and is expected to become fully operational in 2011. At that time, it is expected to be able to produce up to 22.5 gigawatts (GW) of power. In August 2009, even before all the generators were running, the plant produced 18.3 GW, more than any other power plant in the world.
The Three Gorges Dam was a huge engineering project, and not without controversy. Over 1 million people have been displaced from the area to make way for the dam and the reservoir it created. There has also been great concern about water pollution and damage to the environment. Hydropower is a relatively clean form of energy, however, and is expected to help reduce China’s dependence on coal and other fossil fuels. The dam also helped control flooding in the area and reduced the severity of drought downstream.
For many years, the largest power plant in the world was a hydroelectric dam on the Paraná River on the border between Brazil and Paraguay. The binational project, led by the Itaipu Binacional company, was named in honor of an island that was located at the site of the construction site, Itaipu, which in the native Guarani language means “singing stones”. Itaipu Dam can produce up to 17.6 GW of power through its 18 installed hydroelectric units. In 1995, the dam was named one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World by Popular Mechanics magazine.
Itaipu Dam was finished on May 5, 1984, but all 18 generators weren’t installed until 1991, meaning it didn’t become the world’s largest power station until 1985. The dam took 14 years to be built, with construction starting in January 1970. In 2005, it supplied 93% of the energy used by Paraguay and 20% of that consumed by Brazil. That’s enough energy for millions of people. Itaipu also highlights the deep cooperation and mutual trust between Brazil and Paraguay.
It’s quite likely that hydroelectric dams will always claim the title of the world’s largest power plant for a while yet, as you can’t easily beat a natural source of tremendous energy like this. However, hydroelectric dams are limited by the size of the river, while alternative sources such as nuclear and solar have no such limitations. Nuclear is limited by the amount of nuclear fuel, solar by the energy produced by the sun. Both quantities are absolutely enormous, many times the annual electricity consumption of the human race.
It is not easy to chain hydroelectric dams next to each other due to the huge flood basins they create. In the future, it would not be surprising if a solar satellite installation took over the title of the largest power plant. Although according to some it would not be the “largest in the world”, as it would be literally out of this world!
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