YICHANG, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Chinese construction workers have started to install the first of the 12 more turbo-generators planned for the southern bank of the Yangtze River with the Three Gorges Project.

    And the installation of the No. 26 turbo-generator, made by Harbin Electric Machinery Plant in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, began Thursday and will be finished in August 2007, said sources from China Yangtze River Three Gorges Project Development Corporation.

    Launched in 1993, the Three Gorges Project, including a 185-m-high dam and 26 turbo-generators on both banks of the Yangtze, is being built in three phases on the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, China's longest.

    In accordance with the original plan, the Three Gorges Project, with an estimated cost of 180 billion yuan (approximately 21.7 billion U.S. dollars), will have 26 generators with a combined generating capacity of 18.2 million kw.

    All the 14 turbo-generators installed on the northern bank of the Yangtze were put into power generation on Sept. 16, 2005, one year ahead of the construction schedule. The turbo-generators on the northern bank of the Yangtze generated 49.09 billion kw/hour of electricity last year.

    The mammoth dam of the Three Gorges Project is expected to be completed next Saturday.

    In accordance with the construction schedule, the entire Three Gorges Project will be completed in 2009 and by then, it will be able to generate 84.7 billion kwh of electricity annually. Enditem