Latest news with #hydropower
South China Morning Post
14 hours ago
- Business
- South China Morning Post
China is building the world's biggest hydropower dam. Why is India worried?
On the eastern rim of the Tibetan plateau, China envisions a future powered by the roaring waters of the Yarlung Tsangpo (Brahmaputra). The river will be the site of a mega dam – the world's most ambitious to date – that promises to bring clean energy, jobs, infrastructure and prosperity to the region. Construction on the world's largest hydropower dam began on Saturday, according to Premier Li Qiang , who called it the 'project of the century'. But the project is not just about electricity and economic benefits – the stakes are far higher. Regional security, ecological stability and the future of one of Asia's great rivers all hang in the balance. How big is the mega dam? The dam will be situated in the lower reaches of the Yarlung Tsangpo, where a section drops 2,000 metres (6,562 feet) over a 50km (31 miles) stretch, creating immense hydropower potential. The dam is reportedly located in Medog, a remote county in Nyingchi city in the Tibet autonomous region When completed, the project will overtake the Three Gorges Dam as the world's largest hydropower dam. It could generate three times more energy with five cascade hydropower stations – an estimated annual capacity of 300 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity, more than Britain's total annual power output. It is estimated to cost around 1.2 trillion yuan (US$167 billion), dwarfing many of the biggest infrastructure undertakings in modern history at around five times the cost of the Three Gorges Dam and even more expensive than the International Space Station. China's new dam project in Tibet will overtake the Three Gorges Dam, shown here, as the world's largest hydropower dam. Photo: Xinhua Why is it important? The project was first announced in 2020 under China's five-year plan as part of a broader strategy to exploit the hydropower potential of the Tibetan plateau, with feasibility studies dating back to the 1980s. Beijing authorised the dam's construction in December 2024.
Daily Mail
a day ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
China begins work on world's biggest dam
China has launched construction of a gargantuan dam that will produce enough electricity each year to power Britain - but neighbors India and Bangladesh warn it could be used to wage hydrowarfare. Chinese Premier Li Qiang officially launched the construction project for the Motuo Hydropower Station at a ceremony at a remote Tibetan village yesterday, describing it as the 'project of the century'. Five cascading hydropower stations will be installed along a bend in the Yarlung Zangpo river as it winds its way around the Namchabarwa mountain, with tunnels bored through the rock to force the water into turbines. Beijing says the dam, which is set to cost some 1.2 trillion yuan or £124 billion, will produce 300 billion kilowatt hours of electricity - more than triple the power output of the Three Gorges Dam in Yangtze central China, currently the world's largest. But the Yarlung Zangpo river flows into the Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh and Amman and on into Bangladesh, to form the Siang, Brahmaputra and Jamuna rivers. These waterways are the lifeblood of civilization in one of the most fertile and populous regions in the world. Indian and Bangladeshi officials are raising the alarm, arguing that the new dam would effectively hand China the power to control and restrict the flow of water across the border - or cause devastating floods. Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Pema Khandu told the PTI news agency earlier this month that the Siang and Brahmaputra could 'dry up considerably' once the dam was completed and described the project as 'an existential threat to our livelihoods'. 'The issue is that China cannot be trusted. No one knows what they might do,' he said, warning Beijing could use the dam to create a 'water bomb' in a time of war. 'Suppose the dam is built and they suddenly release water, our entire Siang belt would be destroyed... (communities) would see all their property, land, and especially human life, suffer devastating effects.' Shares in China Energy Engineering, the lead contractor for the project, leapt 51% following the opening ceremony yesterday, with Power China and Huaxin Cement also enjoying notable boosts. This photo taken on July 19, 2020 shows water being released from the Three Gorges Dam, a gigantic hydropower project on the Yangtze river. China's foreign ministry says the dam will be instrumental in achieving Beijing's net zero by 2060 goal. It previously dismissed complaints from Indian authorities as early as 2017 over rising pollution in the Siang river as a result of earlier construction projects, and has asserted that Beijing has a 'legitimate right' to dam the Yarlung Zangpo. The ministry added that China never 'pursues benefits for itself at the expense of its neighbours. China will continue to maintain current exchange channels with downstream nations and step up cooperation on disaster prevention and mitigation.' But Indian officials are not convinced. New Delhi lodged a formal complaint with China in 2024, while Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Khandu announced that politicians are already working to put defensive measures in place. He told PTI that the state government has conceived a project called the Siang Upper Multipurpose Project - a dam that will act as a buffer to avert flooding in the event that China releases huge quantities of water upstream. 'I believe China is either about to start or has already started work on their side. But they do not share any information. 'Who will make China understand? Since we cannot make China see reason, it is better that we focus on our own defense mechanisms and preparations. That is what we are fully engaged in at the moment,' he said. Neither China nor India is a signatory to the Water Convention, a UN treaty which provides a legal and regulatory framework for the protection and management of transboundary surface waters and groundwaters. This means Beijing is not bound to monitor water levels and is not responsible for ensuring that downstream rivers are provided with enough water to maintain its economic activity, agriculture and aquatic life. India accounts for roughly 17 percent of the global population but has access to just 4 percent of its fresh water resources, according to data published by the Stockholm International Water Institute and the World Bank. Australia's Lowy Institute in 2020 reported that Beijing's 'control over these rivers [in the Tibetan Plateau] effectively gives China a chokehold on India's economy', while the Parley Policy Initiative's special adviser for South Asia, Neeraj Singh Manhas, told a BBC podcast in January that China 'can always weaponize this water in terms of blocking it or diverting it'. A reliable water supply is also vital for India's plans to rapidly expand its coal power plants in the coming years as the world's most populous nation looks to develop its industry. 'Water wars are a key component of warfare... (these dams) allow China to leverage its upstream Tibet-centerd power over the most essential natural resource,' political scientist Brahma Chellaney wrote in the Times of India. Chellaney, a professor of strategic studies at the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi, also pointed out that the Tibetan Plateau, through which the Yarlung Zangpo river flows, experiences high levels of seismic activity. Damming the river could increase the risk of natural disasters, creating a 'ticking water bomb', he said. New Delhi's protest at China's construction project comes just months after India also threatened to demonstrate the strategic power of water as a weapon of war. In the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack in April that sparked a brief armed conflict between India and Pakistan, New Delhi suspended its participation in the Indus Waters Treaty, which obliges India to allow water to flow into Pakistan from the Indus River - a lifeline for Pakistan's agriculture and economy. Dr Manali Kumar, an expert in Indian foreign policy at the University of St. Gallen, told MailOnline the move carried 'immense risks' and was perceived by Pakistan as an 'existential threat'. 'This also sets a dangerous precedent for the weaponisation of shared resources, raising alarms among India's other neighbours who will be watching how this develops very carefully,' Dr Kumar warned. China's new dam and India's suspension of the Indus Water Treaty are just the latest examples of the myriad ways in which controlling the flow of the world's most vital resource can be used as an instrument of leverage in foreign policy, or a tool of war. The Pacific Institute reported global water-related violence surged by more than 50 percent in 2023 alone, as states and non-state actors alike realize the leverage water offers. Despite this, international institutions still largely view water as a development or environmental issue rather than a national security flashpoint, and there is no robust legal framework that clearly classifies the manipulation of water flows to coerce nations or harm civilians as a war crime. Advocates argue that the deliberate weaponisation of water must carry real consequences - from international sanctions to legal prosecutions and reparations - to prevent it from becoming a mechanism of modern conflicts. In the meantime, previous Chinese megadam construction projects have proven devastating for local populations and aquatic biodiversity. The Three Gorges Dam, finished in 2012 on the Yangtze River, created a huge man-made reservoir and displaced 1.4 million inhabitants upstream. Tempa Gyaltsen Zamlha, an environmental policy specialist at the Tibet Policy Institute, a think tank linked to the Tibetan government-in-exile based in Dharamshala, India, said the same consequences would be felt around Yarlung Zangpo. 'We have a very rich Tibetan cultural heritage in those areas, and any dam construction would cause ecological destruction, submergence of parts of that region. 'Many local residents would be forced to leave their ancestral homes,' he said, adding that the project will encourage migration of Han Chinese workers that 'gradually becomes a permanent settlement'. 'Building a dam the size of the super-dam is likely a really bad idea for many reasons,' said Brian Eyler, energy, water and sustainability program director at the Stimson Center, a US think tank. The dam would block the migration of fish as well as sediment flow that enriches the soil during seasonal floods downstream, said Eyler.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Explainer-Why China's neighbours are worried about its new mega-dam project
By David Stanway SINGAPORE (Reuters) -China has broken ground on what it says will be the world's largest hydropower project, a $170 billion feat capable of generating enough electricity each year to power Britain. The scheme dwarfs the mighty Three Gorges Dam, currently the world's largest, and Chinese construction and engineering stocks surged after Premier Li Qiang unveiled it on the weekend. For Beijing, the project promises clean power, jobs and a jolt of stimulus for a slowing economy. For neighbours downstream, it stirs old anxieties about water security: the Yarlung Zangbo becomes the Brahmaputra in India and Bangladesh, a lifeline for millions. WHAT EXACTLY DID CHINA APPROVE? The plan involves five dams along a 50‑km stretch where the river plunges 2,000 metres off the Tibetan Plateau. First power is expected to be generated in the early‑to‑mid 2030s, but beyond that and the price tag, China has published little information about how it intends to build the project. WHY ARE NEIGHBOURS CONCERNED That lack of information is compounding fears about water security in India and Bangladesh, which rely on the Brahmaputra for irrigation, hydropower and drinking water. The chief minister of Arunachal Pradesh, which borders China, said earlier this year that the dam could dry out 80% of the river passing through the Indian state while potentially inundating downstream areas such as neighbouring Assam state. In addition to water, the dam will also mean less sediment flowing downstream, according to Michael Steckler, a professor at Columbia University. That sediment carries nutrients essential for agriculture on floodplains downstream. India and China fought a border war in this region in the 1960s, and the lack of transparency from Beijing has helped fuel speculation it might use the dam to cut off water in another conflict, according to Sayanangshu Modak, an expert on the India-China water relationship at the University of Arizona. "The construction of the Yarlung Zangbo hydropower project is a matter within the scope of China's sovereign affairs," Beijing's foreign ministry said on Tuesday, adding the dam would provide clean energy and prevent flooding. "China has also conducted necessary communication with downstream countries regarding hydrological information, flood control, and disaster mitigation cooperation related to the Yarlung Zangbo project," the ministry said. India's foreign and water ministries did not respond to requests for comment. WILL IT STARVE INDIA OF WATER? But the impact of the dam on downstream flows has been overstated, in part because the bulk of the water that enters the Brahmaputra is from monsoon rainfall south of the Himalayas, and not from China, said Modak. He added that China's plans are for a "run of the river" hydropower project, which means the water will flow normally along the usual course of the Brahmaputra. India itself has proposed two dams on the Siang river, its name for the Yarlung Zangbo. One, an 11.5-gigawatt project in Arunachal Pradesh, will be India's largest if it goes ahead. Those have been proposed, in part, to assert India's claims on the river and bolster its case should China ever seek to divert the water, Modak added. "If India can show that it has been using the waters, then China cannot unilaterally divert," he said. CONTROVERSY IS COMMON Quarrels over dams and water security are not new. Pakistan has accused India of weaponising shared water supplies in the disputed Kashmir region after New Delhi suspended its participation in the Indus Waters Treaty, which regulates water sharing between the neighbours. In Egypt, a senior politician was once caught on camera proposing to bomb a controversial Nile river dam planned by Ethiopia during a long-running dispute over the project. EARTHQUAKE AND EXTREME WEATHER RISKS The dam will be built in an earthquake zone also prone to landslides, glacial‑lake floods and storms. A spree of dam building in the area sparked concerns from experts about safety following a devastating earthquake in Tibet earlier this year. A much smaller hydropower project on a nearby tributary has been limited to four‑month construction windows because of engineering challenges in high altitudes and vicious winters. Solve the daily Crossword
Daily Mail
a day ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
China begins work on world's biggest dam as nuclear-armed neighbour India warns of 'ticking water bomb' amid fears giant structure will be used as 'hydrowarfare weapon'
China has launched construction of a gargantuan dam that will produce enough electricity each year to power Britain - but neighbours India and Bangladesh warn it could be used to wage hydrowarfare. Chinese Premier Li Qiang officially launched the construction project for the Motuo Hydropower Station at a ceremony at a remote Tibetan village yesterday, describing it as the 'project of the century'. Five cascading hydropower stations will be installed along a bend in the Yarlung Zangpo river as it winds its way around the Namchabarwa mountain, with tunnels bored through the rock to force the water into turbines. Beijing says the dam, which is set to cost some 1.2 trillion yuan or £124 billion, will produce 300 billion kilowatt hours of electricity - more than triple the power output of the Three Gorges Dam in Yangtze central China, currently the world's largest. But the Yarlung Zangpo river flows into the Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh and Amman and on into Bangladesh, to form the Siang, Brahmaputra and Jamuna rivers. These waterways are the lifeblood of civilisation in one of the most fertile and populous regions in the world. Indian and Bangladeshi officials are raising the alarm, arguing that the new dam would effectively hand China the power to control and restrict the flow of water across the border - or cause devastating floods. Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Pema Khandu told the PTI news agency earlier this month that the Siang and Brahmaputra could 'dry up considerably' once the dam was completed and described the project as 'an existential threat to our livelihoods'. 'The issue is that China cannot be trusted. No one knows what they might do,' he said, warning Beijing could use the dam to create a 'water bomb' in a time of war. 'Suppose the dam is built and they suddenly release water, our entire Siang belt would be destroyed... (communities) would see all their property, land, and especially human life, suffer devastating effects.' China's foreign ministry, having previously dismissed complaints from Indian authorities as early as 2017 over rising pollution in the Siang river as a result of earlier construction projects, has asserted it has a 'legitimate right' to dam the Yarlung Zangpo. The ministry added that China never 'pursues benefits for itself at the expense of its neighbours. China will continue to maintain current exchange channels with downstream nations and step up cooperation on disaster prevention and mitigation.' But Indian officials are not convinced. New Delhi lodged a formal complaint with China in 2024, while Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Khandu announced that politicians are already working to put defensive measures in place. He told PTI that the state government has conceived a project called the Siang Upper Multipurpose Project - a dam that will act as a buffer to avert flooding in the event that China releases huge quantities of water upstream. 'I believe China is either about to start or has already started work on their side. But they do not share any information. 'Who will make China understand? Since we cannot make China see reason, it is better that we focus on our own defence mechanisms and preparations. That is what we are fully engaged in at the moment,' he said. Neither China nor India is a signatory to the Water Convention, a UN treaty which provides a legal and regulatory framework for the protection and management of transboundary surface waters and groundwaters. This means Beijing is not bound to monitor water levels and is not responsible for ensuring that downstream rivers are provided with enough water to maintain its economic activity, agriculture and aquatic life. India accounts for roughly 17 per cent of the global population but has access to just 4 per cent of its fresh water resources, according to data published by the Stockholm International Water Institute and the World Bank. Australia's Lowy Institute in 2020 reported that Beijing's 'control over these rivers [in the Tibetan Plateau] effectively gives China a chokehold on India's economy', while the Parley Policy Initiative's special adviser for South Asia, Neeraj Singh Manhas, told a BBC podcast in January that China 'can always weaponise this water in terms of blocking it or diverting it'. A reliable water supply is also vital for India's plans to rapidly expand its coal power plants in the coming years as the world's most populous nation looks to develop its industry. 'Water wars are a key component of warfare... (these dams) allow China to leverage its upstream Tibet-centred power over the most essential natural resource,' political scientist Brahma Chellaney wrote in the Times of India. Chellaney, a professor of strategic studies at the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi, also pointed out that the Tibetan Plateau, through which the Yarlung Zangpo river flows, experiences high levels of seismic activity. Damming the river could increase the risk of natural disasters, creating a 'ticking water bomb', he said. New Delhi's protest at China's construction project comes just months after India also threatened to demonstrate the strategic power of water as a weapon of war. In the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack in April that sparked a brief armed conflict between India and Pakistan, New Delhi suspended its participation in the Indus Waters Treaty, which obliges India to allow water to flow into Pakistan from the Indus River - a lifeline for Pakistan's agriculture and economy. Dr Manali Kumar, an expert in Indian foreign policy at the University of St. Gallen, told MailOnline the move carried 'immense risks' and was perceived by Pakistan as an 'existential threat'. 'This also sets a dangerous precedent for the weaponisation of shared resources, raising alarms among India's other neighbours who will be watching how this develops very carefully,' Dr Kumar warned. China's new dam and India's suspension of the Indus Water Treaty are just the latest examples of the myriad ways in which controlling the flow of the world's most vital resource can be used as an instrument of leverage in foreign policy, or a tool of war. The Pacific Institute reported global water-related violence surged by more than 50 per cent in 2023 alone, as states and non-state actors alike realise the leverage water offers. Despite this, international institutions still largely view water as a development or environmental issue rather than a national security flashpoint, and there is no robust legal framework that clearly classifies the manipulation of water flows to coerce nations or harm civilians as a war crime. Advocates argue that the deliberate weaponisation of water must carry real consequences - from international sanctions to legal prosecutions and reparations - to prevent it from becoming a mechanism of modern conflicts. In the meantime, previous Chinese megadam construction projects have proven devastating for local populations and aquatic biodiversity. The Three Gorges Dam, finished in 2012 on the Yangtze River, created a huge man-made reservoir and displaced 1.4 million inhabitants upstream. Tempa Gyaltsen Zamlha, an environmental policy specialist at the Tibet Policy Institute, a think tank linked to the Tibetan government-in-exile based in Dharamshala, India, said the same consequences would be felt around Yarlung Zangpo. 'We have a very rich Tibetan cultural heritage in those areas, and any dam construction would cause ecological destruction, submergence of parts of that region. 'Many local residents would be forced to leave their ancestral homes,' he said, adding that the project will encourage migration of Han Chinese workers that 'gradually becomes a permanent settlement'. 'Building a dam the size of the super-dam is likely a really bad idea for many reasons,' said Brian Eyler, energy, water and sustainability program director at the Stimson Center, a US think tank. The dam would block the migration of fish as well as sediment flow that enriches the soil during seasonal floods downstream, said Eyler.
Reuters
a day ago
- Business
- Reuters
Explainer: Why China's neighbours are worried about its new mega-dam project
SINGAPORE, July 22 (Reuters) - China has broken ground on what it says will be the world's largest hydropower project, a $170 billion feat capable of generating enough electricity each year to power Britain. The scheme dwarfs the mighty Three Gorges Dam, currently the world's largest, and Chinese construction and engineering stocks surged after Premier Li Qiang unveiled it on the weekend. For Beijing, the project promises clean power, jobs and a jolt of stimulus for a slowing economy. For neighbours downstream, it stirs old anxieties about water security: the Yarlung Zangbo becomes the Brahmaputra in India and Bangladesh, a lifeline for millions. The plan involves five dams along a 50‑km stretch where the river plunges 2,000 metres off the Tibetan Plateau. First power is expected to be generated in the early‑to‑mid 2030s, but beyond that and the price tag, China has published little information about how it intends to build the project. That lack of information is compounding fears about water security in India and Bangladesh, which rely on the Brahmaputra for irrigation, hydropower and drinking water. The chief minister of Arunachal Pradesh, which borders China, said earlier this year that the dam could dry out 80% of the river passing through the Indian state while potentially inundating downstream areas such as neighbouring Assam state. In addition to water, the dam will also mean less sediment flowing downstream, according to Michael Steckler, a professor at Columbia University. That sediment carries nutrients essential for agriculture on floodplains downstream. India and China fought a border war in this region in the 1960s, and the lack of transparency from Beijing has helped fuel speculation it might use the dam to cut off water in another conflict, according to Sayanangshu Modak, an expert on the India-China water relationship at the University of Arizona. "The construction of the Yarlung Zangbo hydropower project is a matter within the scope of China's sovereign affairs," Beijing's foreign ministry said on Tuesday, adding the dam would provide clean energy and prevent flooding. "China has also conducted necessary communication with downstream countries regarding hydrological information, flood control, and disaster mitigation cooperation related to the Yarlung Zangbo project," the ministry said. India's foreign and water ministries did not respond to requests for comment. But the impact of the dam on downstream flows has been overstated, in part because the bulk of the water that enters the Brahmaputra is from monsoon rainfall south of the Himalayas, and not from China, said Modak. He added that China's plans are for a "run of the river" hydropower project, which means the water will flow normally along the usual course of the Brahmaputra. India itself has proposed two dams on the Siang river, its name for the Yarlung Zangbo. One, an 11.5-gigawatt project in Arunachal Pradesh, will be India's largest if it goes ahead. Those have been proposed, in part, to assert India's claims on the river and bolster its case should China ever seek to divert the water, Modak added. "If India can show that it has been using the waters, then China cannot unilaterally divert," he said. Quarrels over dams and water security are not new. Pakistan has accused India of weaponising shared water supplies in the disputed Kashmir region after New Delhi suspended its participation in the Indus Waters Treaty, which regulates water sharing between the neighbours. In Egypt, a senior politician was once caught on camera proposing to bomb a controversial Nile river dam planned by Ethiopia during a long-running dispute over the project. The dam will be built in an earthquake zone also prone to landslides, glacial‑lake floods and storms. A spree of dam building in the area sparked concerns from experts about safety following a devastating earthquake in Tibet earlier this year. A much smaller hydropower project on a nearby tributary has been limited to four‑month construction windows because of engineering challenges in high altitudes and vicious winters.
