Large high-altitude mountain wind power base put into operation in Sichuan

The Laba Mountain Wind Power Project, part of the first batch of large wind and solar power base projects in China and the largest wind power project commissioned in Southwest China's Sichuan-Chongqing region since the "14th Five-Year Plan," officially commenced electricity generation on Thursday.

It became the first wind power project to commence construction and operation in the clean energy base of the Yalong River Basin since the start of the "14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25)."

The Laba Mountain Wind Power Field is located in Dechang County, Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, and is distributed along the northern, central, and western sections of the Laba Mountain's main ridge, ranging from 2,154 meters to 3,229 meters above sea level.

The total installed capacity of the Laba Mountain project is 258,000 kilowatts, with an annual average electricity generation capacity of approximately 680 million kilowatt-hours. This can meet the annual electricity needs of around 310,000 households in Sichuan.

The annual clean energy output is equivalent to saving about 200,000 tons of standard coal and reducing carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 560,000 tons.

Chengdu Engineering Corporation Limited under state-downed company Power China was responsible for the overall planning, design, procurement, and construction of the project.

Liu Wei, the Chief Engineer of the project design from the Chengdu Engineering Corporation, explained that since the start of the project's construction in 2022, the project has faced challenges such as tight schedules, execution challenges, extended rainy seasons, and icy roads. Moreover, the site has a significant difference in elevation, with many curves and steep slopes and a maximum longitudinal slope of nearly 20 percent, which increased construction difficulty.

"The team leveraged its rich experience in new energy construction, aiming for a high starting point, high standards, high quality, and world-class outcome. They worked tirelessly on-site day and night, strictly ensuring safety, environmental protection, and quality progress, and fully promoted high-quality project construction," Liu said.

Jiang Jianhong, Deputy Chief Engineer and Project Manager at Chengdu Engineering Corporation, stated that the Laba Mountain project relied on major research achievements in high-altitude wind and solar construction.

He Yanfeng, General Manager of Chengdu Engineering Corporation, stated that the institute has been deeply involved in clean energy construction in the Yalong River Basin.

This year, the institute will also complete the construction of the world's largest and highest-altitude hydro-solar complementary power station, the Korla Phase I photovoltaic power station in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Moreover, it is currently constructing the world's largest mixed-mode pumped storage project, the Lianghekou mixed-storage power station, as well as Sichuan's largest new energy project - the Zhala Mountain photovoltaic power station.

More clean energy projects are underway. "The commissioning of the Laba Mountain project will play a positive role in accelerating the development of the Yalong River Basin into an integrated water, wind, and solar energy base, helping to construct a multi-energy complementary new energy system and achieve China's 'dual carbon' goals," He said.