The key technologies of the Baihetan Hydropower Station's giant hub project have been awarded the First Prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award.

On the morning of July 8, the National Science and Technology Awards Conference, the Academician Conference of the Two Academies, and the 11th National Congress of the China Association for Science and Technology were held in Beijing. The project "Key Technologies of the Baihetan Hydropower Station Giant Hub Project," led by the China Three Gorges Corporation, won the First Prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award for 2025.

The Baihetan Hydropower Station hub project consists of a 300-meter-class concrete double-curvature arch dam, flood discharge and energy dissipation facilities, and underground powerhouses on both the left and right banks. Facing unprecedented technical challenges in the construction of the hub project, the China Three Gorges Corporation collaborated with multiple units in the hydropower industry chain to overcome difficulties. They successfully solved three world-class core technical problems: the most asymmetrical ultra-high arch dam, the largest underground powerhouse cavern group, and the most asymmetrical flood discharge and energy dissipation system. This achievement set 12 world records for the hub project, achieved major breakthroughs in core technologies for hydropower construction, and provided solid technical reserves and important engineering references for subsequent hydropower development projects in the industry.

As a national major project ensuring national energy security and flood control safety in the river basin, the Baihetan Hydropower Station has a total installed capacity of 16 million kilowatts, making it the second-largest hydropower station in the world. Its annual average power generation is 62.443 billion kilowatt-hours, with a flood control storage capacity of 7.5 billion cubic meters. Together with the Wudongde Hydropower Station, Xiluodu Hydropower Station, Xiangjiaba Hydropower Station, the Three Gorges Project, and the Gezhouba Hydropower Station, it forms the world's largest clean energy corridor.

The Baihetan Hydropower Station has won the highest award for engineering projects, the "FIDIC Outstanding Project Award," from the International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC), and was selected as one of the "Top 10 Global Engineering Achievements of the Year" by the journal Engineering organized by the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

For over 30 years, the China Three Gorges Corporation has built on the foundation of the Three Gorges Project, collaborating with upstream and downstream sectors of the industry chain to overcome challenges, scale new technological heights, and drive continuous innovation and independent control in areas ranging from engineering design and construction management to key materials and intelligent operations and maintenance. Through the research and application of new materials, new technologies, and new standards, it has developed core technologies for large-scale hydropower construction and operation, while also driving the development of the entire industry chain, forging a path of distinctive innovation.

This award marks another milestone for the China Three Gorges Corporation, following its "Three Gorges Dam Hub Project," which won the Special Prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award in 2019, and the "Complete Technology and Equipment for Safe and Efficient Offshore Wind Power Development and Industrialization" project, which won the First Prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award in 2023. Once again, the corporation has been honored as the leading unit to receive the First Prize or higher of the National Science and Technology Progress Award.