How Chinese scientists fought 74 years for world's most powerful dam

The Star

6 days ago

The first steps towards China's plans for a mega dam in the Himalayas were taken more than seven decades ago.
In 1951, the Chinese government established the first scientific expedition to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. More than 50 researchers, equipped with barometers, compasses and other basic instruments, accompanied the army on their pioneering quest.
It took them nearly three years to complete the expedition from the Jinsha River in the east to Mount Everest in the west, and to the Yarlung Tsangpo River in southern Tibet.
They compiled a geological survey, highlighting key mining areas along the route, complemented by the collection of scientific data on soil, meteorology, hydrology, agriculture, language and history.
This marked the beginning of plans for the Yarlung Tsangpo dam. The project marked another milestone on July 19 when Premier Li Qiang announced the launch of the river's downstream hydropower project during its groundbreaking ceremony in the Tibetan city of Nyingchi.
It is the world's most ambitious dam project, with a total installed power capacity of 60,000 megawatts (MW) – three times that of the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze in central China.
'The Yarlung Tsangpo River is the highest in China, with a length of 2,057km (1,280 miles). Its hydropower potential is only slightly less than that of the Yangtze River, but when calculated per unit length, it ranks first in the country,' Guan Zhihua, who led the second expedition to Tibet in 1973, said in 2010 during an interview with Southern Weekly.
Now in his mid-80s and retired, Guan used to be part of the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).
Scientific research related to Tibet was halted due to the national economic difficulties caused by the Great Leap Forward, the Dalai Lama's rebellion and subsequent flight, the border war with India and the ensuing political struggles.
It restarted only in 1972 – when CAS established a comprehensive scientific expedition team for the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, with Guan serving as the leader of the Yarlung Tsangpo River leading stream group, responsible for assessing its hydropower potential.
Guan made 22 further trips to Tibet and nine Yarlung Tsangpo River expeditions during his working life.
The Yarlung Tsangpo, which courses through central and southern Tibet, flows through the world's deepest canyon, which has a drop of over 6,000 metres (19,700 feet).
Originating from the icy peaks and snowy ridges between the Himalayas and the Gangdise Mountains, the river extends eastwards before cascading down at a huge bend in the eastern Himalayas to flow into the Indian plains near the town of Pasighat where it later becomes the Brahmaputra River.
In 1980, authorities launched a nationwide survey of hydropower resources, which included the Yarlung Tsangpo River.
Based on the survey data collected by the expedition team, around 12 potential sites for hydropower stations were identified along the main stream of the river.
During the late 1980s, the Tibet provincial government made two attempts to divert and dam the main stream of the Yarlung Tsangpo; however, neither dam project was able to start because of a lack of funds and technology.
In 1981, Chen Chuanyou, another researcher at the same CAS institute as Guan, published a special investigation report on water resources in Tibet.
Chen suggested building a reservoir on the main stream of the Yarlung Tsangpo, raise the water level and then drill a 16km tunnel to divert water to the Duoxiong River, a tributary with a drop of more than 2,300 metres. 'For the sake of safety and the environment, hydropower stations can be built underground,' he said at the time.
CAS repeatedly studied and demonstrated the Yarlung Tsangpo River water conservancy development projects. In September 1997, it published an article in the state-run Guangming Daily: 'Can Tibet build the world's largest hydropower station?'
In 2002, Chen published an article in the Engineering Science journal on the positive impact of a Yarlung hydropower development project. He argued that power could then not only be exported to Southeast Asia but also transmitted via high-voltage queues to Guangdong and Hong Kong.
'These were all just scientific discussions, very advanced plans,' Chen said in an interview with Southern Weekly in 2014. 'We just laughed and didn't do it in detail.'
But 20 years later, these scientific investigations and concepts are being put into reality.
The published technical details for the Yarlung Tsangpo project – development methods such as straightening bends and tunnel water diversion, underwater construction of power stations, and cascade power stations – are fundamentally similar to Chen's plan, but on a much larger scale.
The electricity is mainly for external transmission and consumption, while also taking into account demand within Tibet. There is no longer a shortage of funding.
China will bear these costs on its own, with a projected total investment of 1.2 trillion yuan (US$168 billion).
Shortly before the announcement of the project's launch, related supporting projects had already begun.
On June 23, the ±800 kilovolt ultra-high voltage direct current transmission project from southeastern Tibet to the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area, known as the Tibet-Guangdong DC project, was approved by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).
Construction is expected to be in full swing within the year, and once completed, clean energy from Tibet can be 'delivered instantly' to the Greater Bay Area, according to an NDRC report.
The Yarlung Tsangpo was once the last central river in China that had not been dammed, but in October 2015, the Zangmu hydropower station was fully commissioned for power generation. It is located in the middle reaches of the Yarlung Tsangpo.
It is now the largest hydropower station in Tibet, with a total installed capacity of 510MW – less than one-hundredth of that expected from the Yarlung Tsangpo dam. - SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST