China Plans the World’s Biggest Hydropower Dam in Tibet | OilPrice.com

China has approved the construction of a huge hydroelectric dam in Tibet, which would be the world’s largest hydropower plant with triple the capacity of the current biggest operational project, the Three Gorges Dam, which is also in China.

The Chinese government has now approved the construction of the new project in the lower reaches of the Yarlung Tsangpo River, the longest river in Tibet and the fifth longest in China, state news agency Xinhua reports.

The new mega-dam could produce 300 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity annually, three times higher than the annual design capacity of the Three Gorges Dam.

China says that the huge new hydropower dam would align with its peak carbon emissions goals and carbon neutrality targets. The project is expected to boost the development of solar and wind energy resources in surrounding areas, thus creating a clean energy base featuring a complementary mix of hydro, wind, and solar power, the Xinhua agency quoted an official Chinese government statement as saying.

While hydropower can go a long way to provide a part of China’s electricity, periods of drought in recent years have highlighted the continued dependence on coal for reliable power supply in the world’s second-largest economy.

China has the biggest hydropower capacity in the world, at a total of 425 gigawatts (GW). Even in 2022, when drought shrank hydropower output, the country sourced 15% of its electricity from that segment, according to BloombergNEF.

Hydropower has recovered this year from the historic droughts in 2022 and 2023, but hydropower generation has been on a decline since September, leading to higher fossil fuel-powered electricity output.

Although the share of coal in China’s electricity generation has been declining in recent years with the renewables boom, Chinese coal power generation and demand remain strong. Coal still accounts for about 60% of China’s power generation, despite a surge in hydropower earlier this year after abundant rainfall, which reduced the share of coal in the country’s energy mix during the summer.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com