Large Francis units for Xiluodu and Xiangjiaba, China

After the completion of the Three Gorges project in China, construction of the Xiangjiaba and Xiluodu hydro schemes began on the Jinsha river, which is the upstream reach of the Yangtze. A total of 26 generating units will be installed at the two plants, to provide a total generating capacity of more than 20 260 MW. The first units at these two plants will be put into operation in 2012 and 2013 respectively. The technical characteristics of these large units are described here, particularly with respect to stability performance, and research which is leading to the imminent development of turbines with a capacity greater than 1000 MW.