WORLD: The world’s largest hydroelectric dam will be built in China
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World’s largest hydroelectric dam to be built in ChinaChina has approved the construction of what will be the world’s largest hydroelectric dam, kicking off an ambitious project on the eastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau that could affect millions of people downstream in India and Bangladesh, Reuters reported, citing Agerpres.
The dam, which will be located on the lower reaches of the Yarlung Zangpo River, could produce 300 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, according to an estimate provided by the Power Construction Corporation of China in 2020.
It would triple the designed capacity of 88.2 billion kWh of the Three Gorges Dam in central China, currently the world’s largest. The project will play a major role in achieving China’s carbon neutrality goals, boost related industries such as engineering and create jobs in Tibet, the official Xinhua news agency said on Wednesday.
A section of the Yarlung Zangpo has a drop of 2,000 meters in a short distance of 50 kilometers, offering huge hydropower potential, but also unique engineering challenges.
The cost of building the dam, including engineering costs, will also eclipse the Three Gorges Dam, which cost 254.2 billion yuan ($34.83 billion). This included the relocation of 1.4 million people and cost more than four times the original estimate of 57 billion yuan.
Chinese authorities have not said how many people would be displaced by the Tibet project or how it would affect the local ecosystem, one of the richest and most diverse on the plateau. But according to Chinese officials, the hydropower projects in Tibet, which they say holds more than a third of China’s hydroelectric potential, would not have a major impact on the environment or water supplies downstream.
However, India and Bangladesh have expressed concerns about the dam, which could alter not only the local ecology but also the flow and course of the river downstream. The Yarlung Zangpo becomes the Brahmaputra River in the Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam and eventually flows into Bangladesh.
China has already begun generating hydropower on the upper reaches of the Yarlung Zangpo River, which flows through Tibet from west to east, and plans to build more projects upstream.
