China is making its neighbor, India, and India’s neighbor, Bangladesh, very angry. The Chinese are setting up to build the biggest hydropower dam in the world and it appears that the government failed to consider the repercussions further down the line—or the river, in this case. Protests and public outcry are gathering momentum as India and Bangladesh draw attention to the potential impact on ecologically sensitive areas and millions of people outside China’s border.
China’s massive hydropower dam project will be the biggest in the world
In December 2024, China approved the construction of the super dam to be called the Medog Hydropower Station on a lower section of the Yarlung Zangbo River in Tibet, which in India is known as the Brahmaputra River. This has become a flashpoint of conflict between India and Beijing. Bangladesh also has a dog in this fight because the same river eventually crosses India’s border into Bangladesh, and the effects on environments and settlements downriver could quite plausibly reach that far.
According to China’s Xinhua news agency, the development is “a safe project that prioritizes ecological protection,” promising that it has a major role to play in meeting China’s carbon neutrality goals.
The reason why the site is so attractive for hydropower production is that when the Yarlung Zangbo River reaches a section called the Great Bend, it plunges 6,560 feet down and generates massive volumes of energy as it does so.
China is also home to the world’s current largest hydropower facility, the Three Gorges Dam. The Medog dam will dwarf this by a significant margin and generate an estimated 300 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity per year.
China is investing a prolific amount of funds into researching different energy solutions, and according to a groundbreaking new study, installing solar panels over deserts is the next target for development.
India and Bangladesh are up in arms over potential harmful impacts downriver
However, environmentalists in India have identified ecological risks in the country’s sensitive mountainous region below the site of the mega-dam, saying that harnessing the river and changing the rate of flow will have detrimental effects on the country’s northeastern states and, ultimately, ecosystems in Bangladesh as well.
India is now urging China to consider the interests of downstream regions. Indian foreign ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal offered a warning:
“We will continue to monitor and take necessary measures to protect our interests.”
China defended the project by promising that rigorous evaluation and impact assessment were conducted before the plans for the Medog Hydropower Station were approved. Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun responded to India’s concerns:
“The project will not have a negative impact on the ecological environment, geological conditions, and the rights and interests related to water resources of downstream countries.”
India says the region’s vulnerability to natural disasters is an area of significant concern
It appears that experts in India and Bangladesh have not been pacified, though. Y. Nithiyanandam, the head of the Geospatial Research Programme at the Bengaluru-based Takshashila Institution raised questions about the project:
“The region proposed for dam construction is highly susceptible to landslides and is located on a geological fault line that intersects the Yarlung Zangbo. Planning a dam of this magnitude in such complex terrain poses significant risks to downstream regions of India and Bangladesh, especially in the event of a mishap or if there is alteration in the water flow.”
Nithiyanandam pointed to the recent Tibetan earthquake that killed at least 126 people, highlighting the risk to settlements downriver if a catastrophic event had to compromise the integrity of the dam:
“This is a critical reminder to reassess the proposal for building a mega-dam in such an environment.”
It’s expected that it will take four years to complete the construction of the Medog Hydropower Station, which is planned to begin in 2029. This means that India and Bangladesh have some time to make their case heard if they intend to influence the project in any way.
In more news about China ruffling its neighbor’s feathers with energy projects, an enormous energy reserve that could change the future of energy in the region has been discovered in Tibet through a ground-breaking finding. However, there can be significant environmental costs associated with using this resource.
Read the whole thing?
Get the week's signal, not the noise
Our sharpest reporting on energy, climate and nature — free, once a week.
