State Grid Corporation provides RMB 159 million for 630MW Shuifeng Hydropower Plant Renovation Project

In 2009, State Grid Corporation provided RMB 159 million ($25 million) of funding for the 630MW Shuifeng Hydropower Plant Renovation Project. The purpose of this project was to refurbish the Shuifeng Hydropower Station (also known as the Sup’ung Hydroelectric Power Station) on the Yalu River between Kuandian Manchu Autonomous County, Liaoning Province in China and Sakju County, North Pyongan Province in North Korea. China-Korea Hydropower Company (中朝水力发电公司) — a joint venture of the two governments established in 1955 — is responsible for the operations and maintenance of the Shuifeng Hydropower Plant. State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC) and Sinohydro Corporation Ltd were the contractors responsible for project implementation. A formal groundbreaking ceremony took place on August 15, 2009. Then, on December 28, 2010, a planned explosion blasted apart a 273-meter back-up dam to Shuifeng hydropower station to support the renovation effort. The project was completed on June 22, 2011. Then, a formal project handover ceremony was held on June 28, 2011 and a project completion ceremony was held on August 30, 2012. The Shuifeng (Sup’ung) dam is a 106 m (348 ft) tall and 899.5 m (2,951 ft) long concrete gravity dam with a crest elevation of 126.4 m (415 ft). The dam's spillway consists of 26 sluice gates with a maximum discharge capacity of 37,650 m3/s (1,329,597 cu ft/s). An auxiliary spillway 1.7 km (1 mi) north of the dam consists of 16 sluice gates and has a maximum discharge capacity of 17,046 m3/s (601,974 cu ft/s). The dam's reservoir has a capacity of 14,600,000,000 m3 (11,836,413 acre-ft) of which 7,900,000,000 m3 (6,404,634 acre⋅ft) is active (or "useful") for power generation. The dam sits at the head of a 52,912 km2 (20,429 sq mi) catchment area and its reservoir has a surface area of 274 km2 (106 sq mi). The original power station at the base of the dam contains six 105 MW Francis turbine-generators which are afforded an average hydraulic head of 77 m (253 ft). The additional power station on China's side contains two 67.5 MW Francis turbine generators. The total installed capacity of the dam's power stations is 765 MW.

Additional details

1. This project is also known as the Sup’ung Hydroelectric Power Station Upgrading Project, the Sup’ung Hydropower Plant Upgrading Project, the Shuifeng Dam Flood Control Facility Renovation Project, and the Flood Control Facilities Reconstruction Project of the Shuifeng Hydropower Station. The Chinese project title is 鸭绿江水丰水电站改造工程 or 辽宁省丹东市水丰水电站的防洪设施改造工程. The Shuifeng Hydropower Station is known as 水豐水庫 (or 水丰水库) in Chinese and 수풍댐 in Korean 2. The Shuifeng (Sup’ung) dam was constructed by the Japanese between 1937 and 1943 in order to generate electricity and it has been repaired and renovated multiple times — primarily due to spillway damage from flooding. Flooding in 1946 damaged the stilling basin at the toe of the dam and destroyed its spillway, requiring repairs the next year. Between September 1949 and April 1950, in a second repair, the spillway and plunge pool were renovated. Between 1955 and 1958, repairs were made to the dam and power station, which had suffered damages from plundering by the Soviet army and the Korean War. The generators removed by the Soviets were replaced and the installed capacity of the power station upgraded to 630 MW. In 1983, China began constructing an additional power station just downstream of the dam on their side of the river with two 67.5 MW generators. The first was commissioned in 1987 and the second in 1988.

Number of official sources

5

Number of total sources

15