Big Bigger Biggest - Series 2

Episodes

Episode 7 - Dam

This film reveals the technological leaps forward that have allowed the world’s largest hydroelectric dam – the Three Gorges Dam in China – to be built. The Dam harnesses the power of China’s great Yangtze River. It is over 2 kilometres long, towers over 60 storeys high and creates a reservoir 600 kilometres in length. On completion the scheme will be able to generate 22,500 megawatts of power – enough to supply electricity to 60 million people. At its peak over 25,000 men and women were working round the clock to make what was once Chairman Mao’s dream a reality. This film explores how this immense project was made possible through a series of five engineering breakthroughs. This film explores how six landmark Dams – including the Hoover Dam in America -  each feature a major technological innovation that allowed engineers to create bigger dams generating ever more hydroelectric power. Using high-end computer generated imagery that makes up 50% of the film, this film reveals the incredible stories behind these projects and the inventions that have allowed them to increase in scale. Six ingenious leaps forward that enabled dams to evolve …from BIG to BIGGER into the World’s BIGGEST.