China has approved the construction of the world's largest hydroelectric dam, which could affect millions of people downstream in India and Bangladesh, Reuters reported on Thursday, December 26.
The publication writes that China has begun an ambitious project on the eastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau. The dam, which will be located on the lower reaches of the Yarlung Tsangpo River, can produce 300 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, which would more than triple the design capacity of 88.2 billion kWh of the world's largest dam, the Three Gorges Dam in central China.
"The Yarlung Tsangpo section drops for an impressive 2,000 meters in a short span of 50 kilometers, offering huge hydropower potential as well as unique engineering challenges. The cost of building the dam, including engineering costs, is expected to overshadow the Three Gorges Dam, which cost RMB 254.2 billion (USD 34.83 billion). This included the relocation of 1.4 million people, and is four times higher than the original estimate of RMB 57 billion," the report said.
Chinese officials say the hydropower projects in Tibet will not have a major impact on the environment or water supplies downstream, but they contain more than a third of China's hydropower potential. India and Bangladesh have raised concerns with China about the construction, as it could potentially alter the local ecology and the flow and course of the river downstream.
As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, in October, the world's most powerful floating wind turbine rolled off the assembly line in China.
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