Three Gorges Dam water turbines in the underground plant began production. The ship lift was complete in December 2015. Each main water turbine has a capacity of 700 MW. The dam body was completed in 2006. Coupling the dam's 32 main turbines with two smaller generators (50 MW each) to power the plant itself, the total electric generating capacity of the dam is 22,500 MW. As well as producing electricity, the dam is intended to increase the Yangtze River's shipping capacity and reduce the potential for floods downstream by providing flood storage space. China regards the project as monumental as well as a
Three Gorges Reservoir Region narrow and where the geography is complex. The mountainous areas represent 74% of the region only with 4.3% plain area in the river valley and 21.7% hilly area. The climate of the reservoir region of the Three Gorges Project is the subtropical monsoon climate. Its location is in the transfer between the northern temperate zone and the subtropical zone, where it is hot and it rains a lot with the annual rainfall of about 1100 mm. The valley of the Three Gorges Reservoir Region below 500 m has an annual temperature 17–19 °C and, with the frost-free period annually lasts