With financing provided by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, and following a public bidding opening on 12 June 2002, the contract was awarded to Marubeni Corporation of Japan as prime contractor and voith-siemens Hydro Power Generation as the manufacturer of the four sets of complete units for this important project.
At the official contract signing ceremony on 29 November 2002, in Beijing, Voith Siemens Hydro was represented by Voith Fuji Hydro of Kawasaki, Japan - supplier of the electrical portion, Voith Siemens Hydro of Germany and of Shanghai, China - supplier of the mechanical portion, and the company's German business unit - supplier of the computer supervisory control system.
Taian will be equipped with four Francis-type reversible generating units, each with a rated capacity of 250MW. Voith Siemens Hydro will supply the four pump-turbines, four motor-generators, and one computer supervisory and control system. The first unit is to be commissioned at the beginning of 2007.
