China begins construction of world's largest hydropower plant in Tibet

China's Prime Minister Li Qiang laid the foundation stone for the world's largest hydropower plant in the Tibetan city of Nyingchi near the Indian border on Saturday. According to current plans, the plant will supply around 300 billion kilowatt hours per year. This is roughly three times the amount generated by the currently largest power plant in China's Three Gorges Dam.

Officially approved at the end of 2024, the dam will comprise five cascading hydropower plants. The reservoir will be fed by the Yarlung Tsangpo River, which rises on a Tibetan plateau and flows from there to the north-eastern Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam as the Brahmaputra, and from there on to Bangladesh.

Around 176 billion US dollars are to flow into the hydropower plant and the reservoir. The electricity produced there is mainly intended to supply electricity to external markets. A small proportion is to be used to cover Tibet's local energy needs.

Controversial large-scale project

However, the project is controversial, both in the region in Tibet and in the neighboring countries of India and Bangladesh. In Tibet, there are fears that the reservoir could burst and submerge large parts of the region – with catastrophic consequences for the local population. India and Bangladesh believe that China could use the dam as a means of exerting pressure in times of political conflict. The course of the river could then be manipulated in such a way that it triggers either floods or droughts downstream.

India has therefore already initiated its own hydropower projects in Arunachal Pradesh. The country wants to secure control over its own water resources and minimize the supply risk posed by the new Chinese dam. However, the Indian hydropower plants will be located in a region characterized by border disputes between China and India. China claims that Arunachal Pradesh belongs to Tibet and is therefore part of Chinese territory.

Environmental protection organizations are also expressing massive concerns about China's huge hydropower project. They are critical of the necessary resettlement of parts of the Tibetan population and the impact on the sensitive ecosystem of the Himalayas.

China is trying to dispel these concerns with its own studies. Scientific assessments of the project have shown that there are no negative effects on the ecosystems downstream. In addition, the geological stability and the water rights of neighboring countries are secured. In fact, China is selling the dam project as an ecological means of curbing climate change and at the same time meeting its growing energy needs.

A new state-owned company, the China Yajiang Group, has been set up specifically for the construction of the dam and the hydropower plants. In addition to construction, the group will also be responsible for operation and environmental protection.

(olb)