In 2025, the world’s largest clean energy corridor, which consists of six cascade hydropower stations at Wudongde, Baihetan, Xiluodu, Xiangjiaba, the Three Gorges, and Gezhouba operated safely and efficiently with refined management. With the help of these stations, the corridor contributed significantly to flood control, water supply, river transport, energy security and ecological protection along the Yangtze River.
A bird view of the Three Gorges project. [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]
Flood Control
Usually, reservoirs are empty before the flood season and fulfilled when the season ends, so as to better regulate river flow. Given that in 2025 West China witnessed the heaviest autumn rainfall since 1961, the corridor broke the conventional operation pattern and conducted flood control during the impoundment period. Alongside the corridor, the Three Gorges Reservoir alone detained around 3.6 billion cubic meters of floodwater, with its peak-clipping rate reaching 40 percent. This proactive management ensured safety despite challenging drought and flood.
Water Supply Enhancement
The corridor played a vital role in freshwater conservation. It pooled 25.2 billion cubic meters of water to the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River last year. Notably, the Three Gorges Reservoir released 7.2 billion cubic meters of waters through three rounds of irrigation-oriented water supply dispatch, effectively meeting the water demand for summer grain harvest. For the first time, the corridor coordinated with the water dispatch from the Yangtze River to the Hanjiang River during the main flood season, significantly improving the water supplementation capacity for the middle and lower reaches of the Hanjiang River.
Transportation Facilitation
The Three Gorges lock and lift operated with stability and efficiency last year, achieving and annual throughput of 173 million tons and ensuring safe and convenient passage of over 46 million tons of livelihood-related supplies through the dam. The freight throughput of the ship lock surpassed 169 million tons, and the annual passenger traffic of the lift reached over 630,000 person-times. The Xiangjiaba Hydropower Station set a record by facilitating the transportation of more than 10 million tons of goods.
Stable and Resilient Power Supply
China Yangtze Power Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of China Three Gorges Corporation, enhanced its coordination of cascade reservoirs. The corridor achieved long-term, high-load operation to generate an additional 14 billion kilowatt-hours of power last year, meeting the summer peak demand. By the end of 2025, these stations stored more than 34 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity. Both data are record highs, demonstrating the corridor’s significant role in stabilizing power supply.
Baihetan Hydropower Station, a major national project, becomes operational during the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25). [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]
Environmental Improvement
In 2025, a total of 13 ecological regulations were implemented along the corridor, and two rounds of siltation reduction activities were carried out in the backwater area of the Three Gorges Reservoir. These measures effectively improved environment protection and biodiversity restoration along the Yangtze River.
(Executive editor: Yuan Ting)
