The world's largest impulse hydropower unit completed its rotor hoisting at the Datang Zhala Hydropower Station in Southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region on Tuesday, CCTV News reported. It marks China's entry into the world's leading ranks in innovating core technologies for ultra‑high‑head, large‑capacity impulse hydropower equipment, which will support the development of clean energy in southeastern Xizang.

As a major national project for transmitting electricity from Xizang to other regions, the hydropower station is equipped with two 500-megawatt impulse units, the largest single-unit generator of this capacity globally. The units feature technological advantages such as high altitude, ultra‑high head, and large capacity.

The project is also the first approved megawatt-level hydropower project in Xizang and a key power source for China's national-level clean energy demonstration base that integrates hydropower, wind, and solar resources, according to media reports.

Weighing about 840 tons, equivalent to the combined weight of 560 sedan cars, the rotor hoisted on Wednesday is the generator's "power heart" that drives energy conversion. Its installation signals the final stage ahead of the project's commercial launch, the report said.

Once fully operational, the hydropower station will generate nearly 4 billion kilowatt-hours of clean renewable electricity annually, saving 1.3 million tons of standard coal and reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 3.42 million tons.

The Datang Zala Hydropower Station is located on the Yuqu River, a tributary of the Nujiang River, which flows from Southwest China's Yunnan Province to eastern Myanmar and empties into the Andaman Sea.