Local authorities say the construction of a large hydropower station has begun on the Jinsha River, the upper section of the Yangtze River. [Photo:bjx.com.cn]

The construction of a large hydropower station has begun on the Jinsha River, the upper section of the Yangtze River.

The Suwalong project, undertaken by China Huadian Corp., is at the junction of Mangkam County, Tibet Autonomous Region, and Batang County, Sichuan Province, in southwest China.

It has a designed capacity of 1.2 million kilowatts and will be able to generate about 5.4 billion kilowatt hours of electricity per year. It will cost nearly 18 billion yuan, about 2.77 billion U.S. dollars.

A 112-meter-high dam will be built to form a reservoir that can store about 674 million cubic meters of water.

The first of its four generating units is expected to start operation in 2021.