Australia Just Tested a Greener Way to Make Iron Metal
A Nine-Year Water Project Just Won China's Top Engineering Prize
China’s Lianghekou Hydropower Station has been named the 2026 FIDIC Project of the Year in the Megaproject category, becoming the only hydropower scheme among this year’s recipients. Located on the Yalong River in Yajiang County, Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, the 3,000 MW plant is a key regulating reservoir in the cascade development of the river and a flagship project of China’s 13th Five-Year Plan period. Construction began in 2014; the project passed completion acceptance in 2024. Its gravel-soil core rockfill dam reaches a maximum height of 303 metres and holds the Guinness World Record as the world’s highest rockfill dam.
Engineering at Extreme Altitude
The site sits at an average elevation of about 3,000 metres in a high-altitude region with seasonally frozen ground. Effective construction days number only around 200 per year, imposing severe constraints on schedule and logistics. Building a 303-metre rockfill dam under those conditions required specialised design, materials handling and construction methods. PowerChina Chengdu Engineering Corporation led survey and design work for the project.
Scale and Performance
Lianghekou generates approximately 11 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually. By storing water in high-flow periods and releasing it during dry seasons, the reservoir is estimated to increase generation across the broader river basin by roughly 34 billion kWh in normal and low-water years while avoiding about 21 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions. The station functions as a critical regulating asset for the Yalong cascade, improving both energy output and grid flexibility.
Local and Economic Impact
About 18 per cent of total investment was directed to local infrastructure upgrades, including roughly 500 kilometres of roads and the development of six new towns. Construction supported more than 20,000 jobs annually. In a remote, high-altitude Tibetan prefecture, the combination of power generation, transport links and urban development has given the project a dual role as both an energy asset and a regional development driver.
Why the FIDIC Award Matters
The International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC) Project of the Year awards recognise excellence in consulting engineering on complex, high-impact schemes. Winning the Megaproject category places Lianghekou alongside the world’s most demanding infrastructure achievements and highlights Chinese capability in high-altitude dam design and construction. The award also underscores the technical difficulty of delivering a world-record rockfill dam under severe climatic and logistical constraints.
Broader Context in China’s Hydropower Programme
Lianghekou forms part of the systematic cascade development of the Yalong River, itself a major tributary in the upper Yangtze system. Large regulating reservoirs at high elevation improve the firm capacity and seasonal flexibility of downstream plants. The project’s success reinforces the role of carefully engineered storage in maximising the value of China’s western hydropower resources while supporting national decarbonisation goals.
Outlook
With commercial operation established and international recognition secured, Lianghekou stands as a reference for high-altitude, high-dam hydropower engineering. Its long-term performance—generation reliability, reservoir sedimentation management, and continued contribution to basin-wide output—will determine its lasting legacy. For now, the FIDIC Megaproject award confirms that a multi-year effort to build the world’s highest rockfill dam under extreme conditions has met the highest global standards of engineering achievement.
Sources
Linear Alkylbenzene Sulfonic Acid (90%) - India
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