(Yicai) July 29 -- China Yarlung Zangbo Group, the company recently set up to develop the world’s largest hydropower dam, has appointed two energy sector veterans as its first chairman and general manager.

Yu Bing, former GM at China Energy Group, was named as China Yarlung Zangbo’s chairman and Wang Wubin, ex-deputy GM at China Three Gorges, was named as its GM, Beijing-based CTG recently announced on WeChat.

China broke ground on the CNY1.2 trillion (USD167.2 billion) project in the lower reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River in Xizang Autonomous Region on July 19. Consisting of five cascade hydropower stations around the city of Nyingchi, it is expected to generate about 300 billion kilowatt hours of electricity a year and begin operations in the 2030s.

Shanghai-based China Yarlung Zangbo is the project’s investor, developer, and operator.

Yu, 57, served as deputy GM of China Huadian from 2018 to 2021 and deputy director of the National Energy Administration from 2021 to 2023, before joining China Energy. In the early stages of his career, he worked at China Power Investment, a predecessor of State Power Investment, holding senior management posts in multiple firms under the company.

Wang, 54, has long worked in the water conservancy and hydropower sector. Before stepping in as GM of CTG, he was chairman of its listed wind and solar energy unit, Three Gorges Energy.

On the same day as the new project broke ground, CTG’s chairman met with Yu, Wang, and other China Yajiang Zangbo executives in Nyingchi to sign an agreement deepening their ties, it also said.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Martin Kadiev