Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Note
: Dams are listed from north to south.
Source
: Magee 2011; He, Hu, and Feng 2007:152.
Manwan Hydropower Station, with an installed capacity of 1,500 megawatts, was com-
pleted in 1996. Dachaoshan Hydropower Station, with an installed capacity of 1,350 mega-
watts, was completed in 2003. The Xiaowan Hydropower Station, with an installed ca-
pacity of 4,200 megawatts, was completed in 2012. Jinghong Hydropower Station, with
an installed capacity of 1,750 megawatts, became fully operational in 2011 (He and Chen
2002). Nuozhadu Hydropower Station, which will have the greatest hydropower capacity,
at 5,850 megawatts, is under construction, with an expected commissioning date sometime
after 2014. Taken together, these projects represent the development of 28 percent of the
Lancang basin's estimated hydropower capacity (Liu 2012).
Along the upper sections of the Lancang, government agencies and hydropower corpor-
ations have made plans for an “upper cascade” of dams, ranging in number anywhere from
five to eleven (Magee 2011). It remains controversial in part because of the excessive cost
of building roads and other associated infrastructure in an extremely underdeveloped re-
gion. The news media often report stories about the cancellation of one or more upper-cas-
cade dams, and it is unlikely that all eleven will be built. However, it appears that prepar-
atory work is proceeding on at least two of the upper-cascade dam sites—Lidi and Wunon-
