China's Three Gorges hydropower project has generated 250.4 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity as of Friday since its first turbine began production in July 2003.

The amount is around eight percent of the country's total electricity consumption in 2006, which stood at 2.82 trillion kwh.

The hydropower project currently had 24 turbines in operation with an actual generating capacity of about 15.5 million kw, according to the the China Three Gorges Project Corporation.

Two more turbines are expected to be put into use in late August and late November.

The US$22.5 billion project was launched in 1993 in the mid-section of the Yangtze, China's longest river.

Originally, its plan called for the 26 turbo-generators to produce 84.7 billion kwh of electricity annually upon its scheduled completion this year. It was now to be expanded further to include six more turbines by 2012.

(Xinhua News Agency August 15, 2008)