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 Dam of the lift will be 21 minutes. It says that the expected dimensions of the passenger vessels the ship lift's basin was designed to carry will be X X . The moving mass (including counterweights) is 34,000 tonnes. The trials of elevator finished in July 2016, the first cargo ship was lifted in July 15, the lift time comprised 8 minutes. "Shanghai Daily" reported that the first operational use of the lift was on September 18, 2016, when limited ""operational testing"" of the lift began. Plans also exist for the construction of short portage railways bypassing the dam area altogether.