Three Gorges Dam is a 22,500 MW hydro power station in Hubei, China. It is operated by China Three Gorges Corporation. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 22,525,714 homes (estimated). It ranks #1 of 5,959 China power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 2003, it is around 23 years old — relatively modern. 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).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id WRI1000452.
Installed capacity (MW), WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0).
Operated by China Three Gorges Corporation.
This hydro plant converts the energy of falling or flowing water through hydro turbines. It sits in a humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 30.8°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.
Monthly mean temperature
Heating degree-days here run 29% 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: 39/100 — 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.
The #1 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.
Coordinates 30.8235, 111.0032 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
