The world´s largest dam – level 2

Baihetan is the world´s largest hydropower plant, and it opened last week. It is located on the Yangtze River in China.

It took only four years to build the dam, but it was one of the most difficult engineering projects. The dam is 289 meters high, and one rotation can make 150 kilowatt-hours of electricity. It is the same amount of electricity which a family uses in one month.

The dam is a part of a system of dams on the Yangtze River, and it will give electricity to eastern and central China. These are the most populated areas and sometimes, they had electricity shortages. Also, China wants to control the flow of the river during summer when there are many floods. Another reason why China built the dam is to lower emissions from burning materials, such as coal or gas.

Difficult words: hydropower plant (a structure which uses falling water to make electricity), engineering (the design and building of machines and other structures), shortage (when there is not enough of something).

You can watch the original video in the Level 3 section.