Jiangxia Tidal Power Station

Jiangxia Tidal Power Test Station

The Jiangxia Tidal Power Test Station is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

The Jiangxia Tidal Power Station is located in the Yueqing Bay, where the tidal range is significant, with an average tidal difference of 5.08 meters and a maximum exceeding 8 meters—conditions highly suitable for tidal energy development.

To explore the large-scale utilization of tidal power, in 1970 the Ministry of Water Resources and Electric Power decided to build a tidal power station in Yueqing Bay.

The station is not large and consists of a dam, power channel, powerhouse, spillway gate, and switching station. It was the first national-level experimental tidal power base independently developed in China and is a single-basin bidirectional power station.

Wang Haoping, deputy director of the Jiangxia Tidal Power Test Station in Wenling, introduced that over the past 30-plus years, the station’s units have achieved fruitful results in various scientific test projects. In 1986, the station was recognized as a National Advanced Unit in Science and Technology during the Sixth Five-Year Plan period by the State Science and Technology Commission and related departments.

In 2005, Longyuan Power Group undertook the research and development of the national “863” new tidal power project. While generating tidal power, the Jiangxia Tidal Power Test Station has also gradually developed comprehensive agricultural and fishery economies in the reservoir area. The enclosed tidal flats covering 5,600 mu and the reservoir surface were allocated by local townships to farmers for crop cultivation and aquaculture, yielding significant social benefits. The Jiangxia Tidal Power Test Station has demonstrated through practice that it offers advantages such as no need for resettlement, no consumption of primary energy, no threat of flooding, and no impact on ecological balance or environmental pollution.

From 1980 to 2014, after serving for 34 years, Unit 1 completed its historical mission. It was dismantled and placed in the station’s historical exhibition hall. Unit 1 is relatively large in size, and its entire body is now covered in rust. Some parts, having been submerged in water for a long time, are encrusted with numerous shellfish. During disassembly, workers found that the shellfish could not be removed as they had fused with the unit. Wang Haoping said this unit holds significant historical value—it was China’s first unit used for tidal power generation. At the request of the provincial cultural relics bureau, it has been preserved as a cultural relic and remains on display in the exhibition hall for public viewing.

Currently, the Wenling Jiangxia Tidal Power Test Station has installed six bidirectional bulb tubular turbine generator units, with a total installed capacity of 3,900 kilowatts. The units operate stably, maintaining an annual power generation of around 7.2 million kilowatt-hours. The sheltered harbor where the Jiangxia Tidal Power Station is situated has a small area and limited water volume, which naturally constrain the station’s power output. However, as a “test” station, it holds milestone significance for the research and development of tidal power generation in China.

On October 7, 2019, the Jiangxia Tidal Power Test Station was included in the eighth batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units.

Further Reading:

· Sixth Batch of Zhejiang Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Units

· Eighth Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units