World’s biggest hydropower dam in Tibet

 Construction on the project of the century started by China 

China has started building a mega-dam on the Yarlung Zangbo River in Tibet, which could become the world’s largest source of hydroelectric power when completed, according to Chinese officials. The project on a river that runs through Tibet and India downstream could dwarf the Three Gorges Dam when completed. The dam will be built on the Yarlung Zangbo River in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. Project is expected to be completed by 2030. It has been one of the most shocking news stories of recent times. China is carrying out the construction of a dam on the Yangtze River that, according to studies, would be displacing the Earth's axis. This three gorges dam has a current capacity of around 40 trillion litres of water. Although, as shocking as it may be, the Asian country wants to continue building megastructures which benefit the creation of energy, the next project it is going to carry out could leave the Three Gorges Dam far behind.

The mega-project in the foothills of the Himalayas will include five hydropower stations on the river, which is also known as the Brahmaputra, further downstream in India, and the Jamuna River in Bangladesh. Beijing had planned the project for several years, and approval was given in December last year, linking the development to the country’s carbon neutrality targets and economic goals in the Tibet region. “The electricity generated will be primarily transmitted to other regions for consumption, while also meeting local power needs in Tibet,” Xinhua reported. It will generate more energy than all the nuclear power plants in France. Chinese government has already approved the construction, which would have a budget of around $167 billion. This mega structure would be carried out by taking advantage of the natural drop in the waters of the Yarlung Tsangpo River. This waterfall consists of 2,000 meters over 50 km's of the river's course. The company, created specifically for the construction of the dam, has set its start-up for the year 2030.

The project is expected to cost an estimated 1.2 trillion yuan ($167.1bn), Xinhua said. India said in January that it had raised concerns with China about the project, saying it would “monitor and take necessary measures to protect our interests”. India’s Ministry of External Affairs said at the time that China “has been urged to ensure that the interests of the downstream states of the Brahmaputra are not harmed by activities in upstream areas”. Beijing’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the project would not have any “negative impact” downstream, adding that China “will also maintain communication with countries at the lower reaches” of the river. According to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the aim of this new hydroelectric power station in Tibet is to "accelerate the development of clean energy and combat climate change", as at present most of the energy is produced by highly polluting coal.

China annexed Tibet in 1950, and has built several dams on the region’s rivers, prompting concerns from Tibetans about the potential impacts on the unique ecosystems of the Tibetan Plateau. Tibet’s vast glaciers and major rivers provide fresh water to 1.3 billion people in 10 countries, according to Yale’s E360 environmental magazine. The Yarlung Tsangpo is the world’s highest river, reaching some 5,000 metres (16,404 feet) above sea level, and is considered sacred to Tibetans. One of the serious problems that this project could trigger is the large amount of water needed to make it work. Water that will possibly be retained, affecting countries such as India or Bangladesh. Now, the international scientific community will have to remain attentive to how this may influence the Earth's rotational balance, since the Three Gorges Dam must be added to this new situation. The new dam is also being built just 30km (18 miles) from China’s vast border with India, much of which is disputed, with tens of thousands of soldiers posted on either side. Once built, the dam could provide as much as three times as much energy as the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River in central China. The Three Gorges Dam, which was completed in 2003, controversially displaced some 1.4 million people. Tibet is much more sparsely populated, with some 2,000 people displaced for the construction of the Yagen Hydropower Station.