According to state broadcaster CCTV, China's second-largest hydropower facility on the Yangtze River's upstream branch was officially completed on Tuesday after the final generating unit was connected to the grid.

With sixteen 1-GW turbines, the Baihetan hydropower plant is the second-largest hydropower generator in China and the world, trailing only the Three Gorges Project on the Yangtze River.

CCTV stated that the plant would generate 62.44 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) annually, which would save approximately 90.45 million tons of coal annually and cut carbon dioxide emissions by 248.4 million tonnes annually.

Along China's longest river, the Yangtze, there are six enormous hydropower plants, one of which is Baihetan. The project's developer, the Three Gorges Corporation, has described the 289-meter (948.16-foot) dam and its infrastructure as one of the nation's largest and most difficult engineering projects.

With an estimated total investment of 170 billion yuan ($24.38 billion), construction began in 2017. It is a major component of China's west-east power transmission program and will supply eastern cities with electricity all over the country.

Despite a prolonged and strenuous drought this summer that reduced generation volumes and forced regions to ration power consumption, China is moving forward with the construction of hydropower in the southwest.