China’s media reported that authorities have given the go-ahead for a Chinese hydropower
company to construct the first downstream dam on the lower reaches of the Brahmaputra
river, or Yarlung Zangbo as it is known in Tibet, marking a new phase in China’s
hydropower exploitation of the river with potential ramifications for India.
A report in the Chinese media said the State-owned hydropower company POWERCHINA
had last month signed “a strategic cooperation agreement” with the Tibet Autonomous
Region (TAR) government to “implement hydropower exploitation in the downstream of
the Yarlung Zangbo River” as part of the new Five-Year Plan (2021-2025).
Previous dams
China in 2015 operationalised its first hydropower project at Zangmu in Tibet, while three
other dams at Dagu, Jiexu and Jiacha are being developed, all on the upper and middle
reaches of the river. The report said this will be the first time the downstream sections of
the river will be tapped.
Possible location
The report did not mention the location of POWERCHINA’s planned downstream project,
but offcials talked about the particular potential offered at the “Great Bend” of the
Brahmaputra and at the Yarlung Zangbo Grand Canyon in Medog County, where the river
falls spectacularly over a 2,000 metre-drop and turns sharply to flow across the border into
Arunachal Pradesh.
Chinese officials said this 50-km section alone offered the potential of developing 70
million kWh “which equals more than three Three Gorges power stations”. They also said
said “the 60-million kWh hydropower exploitation at the downstream of the Yarlung
Zangbo River could provide 300 billion kWh of clean, renewable and zero-carbon
electricity annually” and the project “will play a significant role in realising China’s goal of
reaching a carbon emissions peak before 2030 and carbon neutrality in 2060”.
Concerns of India
India has expressed concerns to China over the four dams on the upper and middle
reaches, though Indian officials have said the dams are not likely to impact the quantity of
the Brahmaputra’s flows in India greatly because they are only storing water for power
generation and the Brahmaputra is not entirely dependent on upstream flows with an
estimated 35% of its basin is in India.
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