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The Three Gorges Dam, the world's largest hydropower project, started working at full capacity Wednesday as the last of its 32 turbine generators was put into operation. The first generator went into operation on July 10, 2003. The last one, or the No. 27 unit, is one of six generators that make up the dam's underground power plant. The dam also has two smaller power plants, each having a generative capacity of 50,000 kilowatts (kw). The Three Gorges Dam's generators have a combined generating capacity of 22.5 million kw. "The full operation of the generators makes the Three Gorges Dam the world's largest hydropower project and largest base of clean energy," Zhang Cheng, general manager of China Yangtze Power Co. Ltd., the operator of the generators, said at a Wednesday ceremony. The Three Gorges Project was launched in 1993 with a budget equivalent to 22.5 billion U.S. dollars.

Three Gorges Dam at full capacity as last generator starts operation in China