China’s Downstream Yarlung Tsangpo River Hydropower Development is as Large as Three Gorges, Drawing Attention from Neighboring Countries

Yan Zhiyong, chairman of China Power Construction Group, recently confirmed that China will implement a “Lower Brahmaputra River Hydropower Development” that is expected to generate more power than the world’s largest Three Gorges power plant. However, the plan may once again stir up sensitive nerves in countries surrounding the Brahmaputra River basin.

According to China Energy News, Yan Zhiyong, who recently attended the 40th anniversary conference of the China Society of Hydropower Engineering, mentioned that the CPC Central Committee, in formulating the 14th Five-Year Plan and the Vision 2035 goals, clearly stated that “the development of hydropower on the lower reaches of the Brahmaputra River will be carried out.

He also emphasized the word “implementation” to confirm that the development has been finalized, and called it a “national security project” that includes water resources and China’s homeland security.

According to Yen, the Brahmaputra River has a theoretical capacity of nearly 80 million kilowatts of water and energy. The “Big Bend” downstream, a 2,000-meter drop in a 50-kilometer straight line, contains nearly 70 million kilowatts of technically exploitable resources, more than the size of three Three Gorges power stations (22.5 million kilowatts installed capacity).

He added that the development of nearly 60 million kilowatts of hydropower on the lower reaches of the Yarlung Tsangpo River will provide nearly 300 billion kilowatt hours of low-carbon electricity per year, and that the hydropower plants, when operational, will also bring more than 20 billion yuan in revenue to the Tibet Autonomous Region.

Yan Zhiyong also declared that this is an “international cooperation” project that will enable China to cooperate with South Asian countries more smoothly.

According to public records, the Brahmaputra is the steepest river in China, and according to Taiwan’s Central News Agency, the river basin contains the disputed border area between China and India, which China claims as the “southern Tibetan region. In addition, there have been disputes between China and India over the sharing of hydrological data and the construction of dams in the Brahmaputra River basin.