Genevieve Donnellon-May
At the end of December 2024, the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) approved for construction of a 60-gigawatt (GW) hydropower dam. The project is planned for the lower reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo river (雅鲁藏布; known as upper Brahmaputra in India) in the Tibet Autonomous Region (Tibet) (Xinhua, December 25, 2024). An ambitious project, it reflects the PRC’s broader efforts to bolster infrastructure capabilities and harness the immense hydropower potential of the Yarlung Zangbo (The Paper, November 28, 2020).
The hydropower dam is described in the Xinhua report as a “security project that adheres to ecology as the priority (坚持生态优先的安全工程).” Beyond enhancing the PRC’s energy security and commitment to addressing climate change, it is also aimed at the “high-quality development (高质量发展)” of the region, with the intention of driving the growth of local industries such as logistics (Xinhua, December 25, 2024).
Recent estimates suggest that the cost of the new hydropower dam could exceed renminbi (RMB) 1 trillion ($137 billion), with an anticipated annual production of nearly 300 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity (The Paper, November 28, 2020; South China Morning Post, December 26, 2024). This would far surpass the country’s renowned Three Gorges Dam, which cost over RMB 250 billion ($35 billion) and generates over 88 billion kilowatt-hours annually (State Council, July 11, 2023; Zaobao, December 26, 2024).
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