2004 is the first year when the Three Gorges Project entered Phase III Construction period. The indicator of each construction project exceeded the annual target and the progress of the huge project met the set objectives.

In 2004, a total of 6.9044 million m³ of earth and rock were excavated in the construction of the right bank project; 135,800 m³ of earth and rock were filled out; 2.9122 million m³ of concrete were poured; and over 40,000 tons of metal structure, machinery and electric components were buried and installed on site. And over 30,000 m³ of cement were grouted by way of consolidation, curtain surrounding or seam connecting methods. Five new power generation sets were put into operation. The total amount of power generated by the Three Gorges Power Plant on the left river bank reached 39.14 billion kW/h, more than the objective of annual plan. During the concrete construction period, strict measures were taken to prevent cracks by temperature control and eliminate difficult problems. In installing generation sets, the authority had furthered the quality control and launched the campaign of "obtaining stable operation in the first 100 days". It had established the mechanism of "people oriented, prevention first, enhancing supervision and continuous improvement". As a result, there were remarkable progresses in both the project quality and production safety.

In 2004, the comprehensive benefits of the Three Gorges Project such as flood resistance, power generation and water transportation emerged. The main stream of the Yangtze River occurred with the big flow of 60,500 m³ on September 8. The Three Gorges Project played its role in reducing the flood peak for the first time and alleviated the pressure on flood fighting in the downstream. A total of 11 power generation sets were put into operation by the end of 2004 with accumulated power of 47.7 billion kW/h. This had played a key role in alleviating the power shortage of Eastern and Central China as well as Guangdong Province. After one year of trial operation, the double line 5-stage-ship lock has passed the examination and approval and been ready for formal navigation. Because the navigation conditions of the sections of the Yangtze River have been greatly improved after impoundment, a total of 43 million tons of goods have passed the ship lock, exceeding the historical record of 18 million tons that have passed the ship lock of the Gezhouba Dam.