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Baihetan Dam

Hydro power plant in Yunnan, China. Approximate location 28.2606, 103.6484.

HydroYunnanChina

Baihetan Dam is a 13,050 MW hydro power station in Yunnan, China. It is operated by China Three Gorges Corporation. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 13,064,914 homes (estimated). It ranks #2 of 5,959 China power plants by installed capacity. As a non-combustion source, it has no direct CO₂ emissions from generation. In context, hydro supplies about 13.2% of China's electricity; the national grid averages 525 gCO₂/kWh (41.7% low-carbon) (2025).

13,050MW installed capacity
13,064,914homes powered (est.)

Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id WRI1070877.

Capacity vs largest hydro plants in China

Three Gorges Dam: 22,500 MW22kThree Gorg…Baihetan Dam: 13,050 MW13kBaihetan D…Xiluodu: 12,600 MW13kXiluoduXiangjiaba: 6,448 MW6kXiangjiabaLongtan: 6,300 MW6kLongtanNuozhadu: 5,850 MW6kNuozhaduAhai: 4,750 MW5kAhaiJinping II: 4,400 MW4kJinping II

Installed capacity (MW), WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0).

Owner

Operated by China Three Gorges Corporation.

Local climate & thermal context

This hydro plant converts the energy of falling or flowing water through hydro turbines. It sits in a subtropical highland climate (Köppen Cwb) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 28.3°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.

13.2°Cannual mean temp
2,014heating degree-days (base 18°C)
287cooling degree-days (base 18°C)
1,357 melevation

Monthly mean temperature

J: 3 °CJF: 5 °CFM: 10 °CMA: 14 °CAM: 18 °CMJ: 20 °CJJ: 22 °CJA: 22 °CAS: 18 °CSO: 14 °CON: 9 °CND: 5 °CD22 °C

Heating degree-days here run 18% below the median power plant in this dataset — a proxy for how much extra energy heated equipment must replace through its surfaces in winter.

Climate heat-demand index: 43/100 — this site sits in the mid third of the power plants we cover by heating degree-days.

In colder climates, uninsulated hot equipment (boilers, turbines, valves, steam lines) loses proportionally more heat to ambient air — exactly the loss Inzonex modular insulation is designed to cut.

Climate normals: WorldClim 2.1 (1970–2000 monthly normals, 10 arc-min, CC BY 4.0); zone: Köppen-Geiger world climate classification (Kottek et al. 2006, 0.5° grid). Degree-days & heat-demand index computed by PowerAtlas — a modelled heat-demand proxy, not a measured site figure.

How it compares & nearby plants

The #2 largest hydro power plant of 947 in China by capacity.

China has 947 hydro power plants in this dataset, together about 259,026 MW of capacity.

Nearby power plants

Location

Coordinates 28.2606, 103.6484 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.

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