(Yicai Global) Aug. 4 -- Construction began yesterday on the Baihetan Hydropower Station, the world's second largest, on West China's Jinshajiang River -- a tributary of the Yangtze.

Baihetan Hydropower Station will only adopt domestic-made hydroelectric power generators each with an installed capacity of several gigawatts initially, online media outlet Jiemian.com reported.

Per the overall construction plan, Baihetan dam will start filling its reservoir in May 2021, with the first batch of generating units will be put into operation in the same year. All power generators will begin generating electricity by the end of 2022.

The hydropower station -- built by China Three Gorges Corp. (CTG) -- has a combined installed capacity of 16 gigawatts and can produce 62,443 million kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity a year -- equivalent to two-thirds of Beijing's full-year electricity consumption in 2015.

The Baihetan station is located on the lower reaches of the Jinshajiang River in Ningnan County, Liangshan Prefecture, Sichuan Province and Qiaojia County, Zhaotong, Yunnan province. It is the second among the four hydropower stations -- Wudongde, Baihetan, Xiluodu and Xiangjiaba -- built by CTG on the lower reaches of the Jinshajiang River.

Per the plan, these four power stations will have a combined installed capacity of 46.46 gigawatts and can produce 190 billion kWh of electricity a year, twice as much as the annual electricity output of the Three Gorges Dam.