The unit was designed and manufactured by Harbin Electrical Machinery Co -- based in Harbin,  capital city of China's northernmost Heilongjiang province.
 
During the commissioning with the grid connection, the hydroelectric unit had a maximum load of 1.11 million kilowatts.
 
According to industry experts, the million-kilowatt hydro-generator unit developed by Harbin Electrical Machinery Co is more efficient, up to 96.7 percent. It also has a lower water consumption rate and a stronger water-saving performance.
 
It has also fully tested against the maximum load capacity and top load regulation performances of the hydro-generators being independently developed in the country.
  In addition, it is the 15th hydroelectric unit of the Baihetan Hydropower Station that has been put into operation, marking the point that the facility has entered the final advanced stage of full production and power generation.
 
The Baihetan Hydropower Station, which is on the Jinsha River -- in the upper section of the Yangtze,  straddling Sichuan and Yunnan provinces -- is projected to be second only to the Three Gorges Dam in terms of its total installed capacity when construction is finished.
 
With an installed capacity of 16 million kilowatts based on sixteen 1,000-mW generators, the project is expected to generate more than 60 billion kW hours of electricity per year.