The first generator in Caijiazhou Power Station, part of the Xiangjiang River comprehensive hub project in Changsha, Hunan province, started grid-connected power generation on Feb 2.

Senior officials of the provincial capital, including Yi Lianhong, the city's Party chief, and Hu Henghua, the mayor, were present at the launching ceremony, held at the hub located in Wangcheng district, and accompanied the builders and workers.

The Xiangjiang River comprehensive hub in Changsha is a public welfare infrastructure construction project for water storage, power generation and navigation.

Yi and Hu congratulated the project team on the successful opening of the generator and praised the achievements they have made. The first generator, when loaded fully, can generate 228,000 kWh every day, which is enough power for 70,000 families every year.

By October, 2015, there will be a total of six generator sets in operation, with a total electric-power output of 1.37 million kWh each day, enough for power consumption of nearly 400,000 families.

After the completion of the whole project, the navigation capacity of the Xiangjiang River section that runs from Chenglingji via Changsha to Hengyang city will double to 2,000 tons from 1,000 tons.

On the same day, a highway crossing over the dam at the upper part of the hub opened to service. It borders the Changxiang Highway and Xiangjiang Road to the east, and connects Huangqiao Avenue and Xiaoxiang Road in the west. It is expected to become a main route to link up the east and west banks of the Xiangjiang in the northern part of the city.