China to construct world’s largest hydropower dam in Tibet

BEIJING (Reuters) – China has accredited the development of what would be the world’s largest hydropower dam, kicking off an bold mission on the japanese rim of the Tibetan plateau that might have an effect on hundreds of thousands downstream in India and Bangladesh.

The dam, which shall be positioned within the decrease reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River, might produce 300 billion kilowatt-hours of electrical energy yearly, in response to an estimate supplied by the Energy Building Corp of China in 2020.

That might greater than triple the 88.2 billion kWh designed capability of the Three Gorges (SS:600116) Dam, presently the world’s largest, in central China.

The mission will play a serious function in assembly China’s carbon peaking and carbon neutrality objectives, stimulate associated industries akin to engineering, and create jobs in Tibet, the official Xinhua information company reported on Wednesday.

A piece of the Yarlung Zangbo falls a dramatic 2,000 metres (6,561 toes) inside a brief span of fifty km (31 miles), providing large hydropower potential in addition to distinctive engineering challenges.

The outlay for constructing the dam, together with engineering prices, can also be anticipated to eclipse the Three Gorges dam, which price 254.2 billion yuan($34.83 billion). This included the resettling of the 1.4 million individuals it displaced and was greater than 4 occasions the preliminary estimate of 57 billion yuan.

Authorities haven’t indicated how many individuals the Tibet mission would displace and the way it might have an effect on the native ecosystem, one of many richest and most various on the plateau.

However in response to Chinese language officers, hydropower initiatives in Tibet, which they are saying maintain greater than a 3rd of China’s hydroelectric energy potential, wouldn’t have a serious influence on the atmosphere or on downstream water provides

India and Bangladesh have nonetheless raised issues in regards to the dam, with the mission doubtlessly altering not solely the native ecology but in addition the circulation and course of the river downstream.

The Yarlung Zangbo turns into the Brahmaputra river because it leaves Tibet and flows south into India’s Arunachal Pradesh and Assam states and eventually into Bangladesh.

China has already commenced hydropower era on the higher reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo, which flows from the west to the east of Tibet. It’s planning extra initiatives upstream.

($1 = 7.2989 Chinese language yuan renminbi)