Beijing’s plan to build the world’s largest hydropower facility is raising concerns about displacement of communities in Tibet and environmental impacts downstream in India and Bangladesh.
The Medog dam, to be built in lower reaches of the Yarlung Tsangpo river, could generate 60 gigawatts of electricity, nearly triple that of the Three Gorges Dam in central China – currently the world’s biggest.
The project aims to harness the river’s immense hydropower potential as it descends from the Tibetan Plateau, generating more than 300 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually.
China says the project is a key part of its efforts to hit peak carbon emissions by 2035 and to become carbon neutral by 2060.
But India fears that the dam could cause floods and water scarcity while giving China the upper hand in any possible military stand-off.
Shortly after announcing its plans for the Yarlung Tsangpo, Indian media reported that its government was exploring an 11-gigawatt hydropower dam as a way of counteracting the impacts of the Chinese project.
The project is expected to cost as much as 1 trillion yuan ($137 billion), making it the most expensive infrastructure project in the world.
Activists allege that the 193 hydropower projects built in Tibet since 2000 have led to serious environmental and human rights violations.
