China’s Mega Hydro-Power Dam on Upstream Brahmaputra to Generate 300 Billion kWh Annually

GUWAHATI: China has approved the construction of the world’s largest hydropower dam in the eastern rim of the Tibetan plateau, and the power plant is likely to come up north of Gelling village in Arunachal Pradesh. The dam, which will be located in the lower reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River, would produce 300 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity annually.

A section of the Yarlung Zangbo falls a dramatic 2,000 metres within a short span of 50 km in the eastern rim of the Tibetan plateau, offering huge hydropower potential as well as huge engineering challenges. It enters India near the village of Gelling in Upper Siang district, Arunachal Pradesh, as the Siang River. Subsequently, it flows southwest through the Assam Valley as the Brahmaputra and south through Bangladesh as the Jamuna.

The new 300 billion kWh hydropower project will play a major role in meeting China’s carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals, the Power Construction Corp of China officials claimed.

The new hydroelectric project would boost industrial growth in eastern Tibet and create huge job opportunities. The outlay for building the hydropower dam, including resettling the people it would displace, is expected to be around $110 billion.

The Chinese authorities have not disclosed how many people the Tibet project would displace and how it would affect the local ecosystem, one of the richest and most diverse on the plateau.

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