Power Grid: 3-Gorges, China

[WmAl]

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[andit]

If I recall the stats of the 3 Gorges Dam, they are generating something in the region of 32,000 Mega Watts. From what I can see looking at these pylons, they appear to be carrying 6 phases per line, judging by the construction of the pylons - 132kV per line - there should be many more lines heading out from the dam (in terms of pylon construction these are fairly lightweight - our transcontinental lines here, run at 400kV with pylons at least 3 times the strength of these).

 

I don't know how much ambient noise there is around, but you should be able to hear the buzz as you approach the lines, plus feel the hair on your arms rise from the magnetic fields. Quite an amazing feeling actually.

 

Thanks for sharing.

 

Andreas

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[WmAl]

If I recall the stats of the 3 Gorges Dam, they are generating something in the region of 32,000 Mega Watts. From what I can see looking at these pylons, they appear to be carrying 6 phases per line, judging by the construction of the pylons - 132kV per line - there should be many more lines heading out from the dam (in terms of pylon construction these are fairly lightweight - our transcontinental lines here, run at 400kV with pylons at least 3 times the strength of these).

 

I don't know how much ambient noise there is around, but you should be able to hear the buzz as you approach the lines, plus feel the hair on your arms rise from the magnetic fields. Quite an amazing feeling actually.

 

 

 

Andreas: These stats are very informative. I took these photos from a moving bus so I missed the buzz. Do these other pictures help in understanding their construction methods?

[andit]

Hi William,

 

These photo's do help quite a bit. These pylons are positively huge (it was difficult to judge in the original image). Since they are running 4 strands per phase, they are transmitting what I would assume to be 400kV (thats 400,000 Volts). When you walk under these lines you really hear them buzz, plus the hair on your arms stands up absolutely straight from the magnetic fields. The little stars that you see between the single strands are there to stop random swaying of the lines in high winds. In my work, I do amongst other things, thermographic inspections of power lines. Using Infrared Camera's (these camera's build up an image based on energy radiation instead of visible light), you see where heat is building up. This shows where problems are happening (bad/loose/corroded connections). So I often get under these power lines.

 

Thanks for posting the other images. It must have been an amazing experience.

 

Andreas