The Silin Dam is a concrete gravity dam

Dam

A dam is a barrier that impounds water or underground streams. Dams generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as floodgates or levees are used to manage or prevent water flow into specific land regions. Hydropower and pumped-storage hydroelectricity are...

 on the Wujiang River in Sinan County

Sinan County, Guizhou

Sinan County is a county in Tongren Prefecture, Guizhou Province of China.Area: 2231 km2. Population is 610,000 in 2002.Postal Code: 565100.The government is located in Sitang town.-External links:*...

, Guizhou Province, China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

. The dam has an associated hydroelectric power plant with a 1,080 MW capacity utilizing 4 x 270 MW Francis turbine

Francis turbine

The Francis turbine is a type of water turbine that was developed by James B. Francis in Lowell, Massachusetts. It is an inward-flow reaction turbine that combines radial and axial flow concepts....

-generators. The dam is 310 m (1,017 ft), 117 m (384 ft) high and composed of roller-compacted concrete

Roller-compacted concrete

Roller-compacted concrete or rolled concrete is a special blend of concrete that has essentially the same ingredients as conventional concrete but in different ratios, and increasingly with partial substitution of fly ash for Portland cement. RCC is a mix of cement/fly ash, water, sand, aggregate...

. Its reservoir has a 1205000000 cubic metre capacity, 184000000 cubic metre of which is flood storage. The dam also supports ship lift. Construction on the dam began in October 2004, the dam began to impound the river in March 2008 and by May 2009, the power plant's first generator was operational.