YICHANG - The Three Gorges Power Plant, China's largest hydropower project, generated 98.1 billion kilowatt-hours (kwh) of electricity in 2012, a record high, according to an announcement from the China Three Gorges Corporation on Tuesday.

The power generation volume grew 25 percent year on year and accounted for about 14 percent of the country's total power generated by hydropower plants in the same year.

By the end of 2012, the plant had cumulative generated 629.1 billion kwh of electricity, equivalent to a reduction of nearly 500 million tonnes of carbon dioxide.

The Three Gorges Project, launched in 1993 with a budget equivalent to $22.5 billion, consists of a dam and a five-tier ship dock, in addition to the 32 generators.

The dam's first generator went into operation on July 10, 2003. The last generator started operating last July, realizing a combined generating capacity of 22.5 million kw.

The Three Gorges Project generates electricity, controls flooding by providing storage for water and adjusts shipping capacity on the Yangtze River, China's longest waterway.