At the 2026 FIDIC Global Infrastructure Awards ceremony held in New Delhi, India, the Yalong River Lianghekou Hydropower Station stood out among 11 shortlisted projects in the ultra-large project category to secure the prestigious "Outstanding Project Award." This marks the station as the only hydropower project worldwide to receive this top distinction this year.
FIDIC, a globally recognized authority in engineering consulting, sets the industry's highest benchmarks through its contract terms and management standards. Its awards are often dubbed the "Nobel Prize" of international engineering consulting. Among the three Chinese projects honored this year, Lianghekou was the sole recipient of the top-tier excellence award.
The station, owned by Yalong River Hydropower Development Co., Ltd. and designed by PowerChina Chengdu Engineering Corporation Limited, serves as a pivotal component in the cascade development of the Yalong River basin. Situated in Yajiang County, Ganzi Prefecture, Sichuan Province, it boasts a total installed capacity of 3,000 megawatts and features a 303-meter-high dam—the tallest rockfill dam ever constructed, certified by Guinness World Records.
As the first dam of its kind built using fully digitalized and intelligent construction technologies throughout the process, Lianghekou overcame world-class engineering challenges, including ultra-high rockfill dam construction, high-head flood discharge systems, and high-geostress underground caverns. The project has set 11 world records in areas like intelligent dam construction, flood discharge efficiency, underground works, and water-solar integration. It has propelled dam construction from digitalization to smart methodologies, upgraded design and construction techniques for ultra-high rockfill dams, and provided a landmark example for expanding hydropower development into high-altitude, cold regions. Its success also offers a "China solution" for similar global projects.
FIDIC awards emphasize sustainability in quality infrastructure. Lianghekou generates 11 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually and, through its "storage in wet season, discharge in dry season" strategy, adds 34.1 billion kilowatt-hours to downstream generation during low-flow periods. Operating jointly with the Jinping I and Ertan reservoirs, the three reservoirs together provide a combined regulating capacity of 14.84 billion cubic meters, making the Yalong River the best-regulated large river in China and effectively easing the "surplus in wet season, deficit in dry season" imbalance of Sichuan's power grid.
Images courtesy of Yalong River Hydropower Development Co., Ltd. and PowerChina Chengdu Engineering Corporation Limited.