China’s mega hydropower dam will produce 300 billion kilowatt-hours annually

On the eastern edge of the Tibetan plateau, China has authorized the construction of the largest hydropower dam in the world. The power plant is anticipated to be located north of Gelling village in Arunachal Pradesh. The dam would generate 300 billion kWh of energy a year and would be situated in the lower levels of the Yarlung Zangbo River. On the eastern edge of the Tibetan plateau, a portion of the Yarlung Zangbo plunges 2,000 meters in a mere 50 kilometers, presenting both enormous hydropower potential and formidable engineering obstacles.

As the Siang River, it enters India close to the settlement of Gelling in the Upper Siang region of Arunachal Pradesh. It then flows south into Bangladesh as the Jamuna and southwest through the Assam Valley as the Brahmaputra. According to authorities from Power Construction Corp of China, the new 300 billion kWh hydropower project will be crucial to achieving China’s carbon peaking and carbon neutrality targets.

In eastern Tibet, the new hydroelectric plant would spur industrial expansion and generate a significant number of job possibilities. It is anticipated that the construction of the hydropower project, including the relocation of the displaced population, will cost approximately $110 billion. How many people would be displaced by the Tibet project and how it would impact the region’s ecosystem—which is among the richest and most varied on the plateau—have not been made public by the Chinese government.