Shuangjiangkou Dam

The Shuangjiangkou Dam (双江口大坝/双江口水电站), also referred to as Shuang Jiang Kou (双江口), is an embankment dam currently being constructed in a gorge on the Dadu River in Sichuan Province, China. When completed, the 312 m dam will be the tallest dam in the world. Preliminary construction began in 2008 and the entire project was expected to be complete in 2018. By April 2011, over 200000000 m3 of material had been excavated from the construction site. In March 2013, China's Ministry of Environmental Protection approved construction on the dam's superstructure and associated facilities. The government acknowledged that the dam would have negative impacts on the environment but that developers were working to mitigate them. The dam is being built by the Guodian Group at a cost of US$4.02 billion. The entire construction period is expected to last 10 years. All turbines are expected to be commissioned by 2023.

Design
The Shuangjiangkou Dam, when completed, will be a 312 m (314 m from the foundation) and 648.66 m rock-fill dam with a relatively impervious core. The dam's crest width will be 16 m, its elevation 2510 m above sea level. It will have a structural volume of approximately 44000000 m3. The dam will sit at the head of a 39330 km2 drainage basin and have a reservoir capacity of 3135000000 m3 of which 2151000000 m3 is regulating or active (useful) storage. Normal reservoir elevation will be 2500 m and minimum 2420 m. Flood elevations range between 2501 and 2504 m. The dam's power station will contain four 500 MW Francis turbine-generators for an installed capacity of 2000 MW. Firm capacity of the power station is expected to be 503 MW along with the station operating for 4064 hours each year. The power station's design flow is 1090 m3/s and the mean hydraulic head 226.4 m.