China is the undisputed domain wiz of dam building . Not only do they have more working great dams than every other country in the world , but they also hold the record for the largest capacity hydroelectric power station in operation : the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River . Now , the East Asiatic major power is in the process of creating the world ’s first tiptop dekametre , set to bust all previous records .
China first announced the so - called super dam ’s construction back in 2021 when the National People ’s Congress okay the country’s14th Five - Year Plan .
The dkm will sit in the lower reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River , known as the Brahmaputra River in India , among the foothills of the Himalayas in the Tibet Autonomous Region . The river carves along the Yarlung Zangbo Grand Canyon , the deepest canyon in the cosmos that stretches for 504.6 kilometers ( 313.5 mile ) in length , just slightly longer thanthe Grand Canyonin the US .
The Three Gorges Dam, the world’s largest capacity hydroelectric power station, along the Yangtze River, China.Image credit: Daniel Doerfler/Shutterstock.com
It aim to work the immense amount of possible get-up-and-go that ’s concur within the river and cliff of this epically expansive region . In total , it could harness triple the amount of hydroelectric power currently captured by the Three Gorges power stations , fit in tostate medium .
The government has rationalise the plan by saying it will helpChinaachieve its goal of give tip carbon emission peak by 2030 andcarbon neutrality by 2060 .
However , the dodge has already proved controversial at home and overseas . Over 1.25 million people werekicked out of their homesduring the structure of the Three Gorges Dam projection , whilemany animal habitatsandnatural ecosystemswere irrevocably upset . Some fear the Yarlung Zangbo dekameter could prove even more troubled .
hearsay of the super dam have also stirred tensions among China ’s bordering neighbor . In late time , China and India have butted heads over the Himalayas ’ water resources and the latest developments along the Yarlung Zangbo River , aka the Brahmaputra River , have the potentiality to deepen the difference .
As political analystshave take down , India and Bangladesh seat downstream of the river system and rely heavily on its waters . Since China ’s dam has the potential to drastically change the river system ’s catamenia and class , India is upset that their nation ’s pee supplying could essentially be held to redeem .
A spokesperson for India ’s piddle resource ministry toldAl Jazeerait was planning on ramp up its own 10 - gigawatt labor on another tributary of the Brahmaputra to counteract the impact of China ’s dam .
Some Indian commentatorshave assertedthat China has a “ embryonic membrane of secrecy smother its project ” in an effort to dull the international reaction to the dike ’s structure . Without transparentness , they fence , the full impact of the super dam will stay nameless until it is completed and any objection will be too late .
interchangeable disputes have arisen elsewhere in the earth . Ethiopia is in the midst of a developinghighly controversial hydroelectric dam systemon the Blue Nile River , much to the annoyance of Egypt who fear it could sever them from the Nile ’s treasured waters . Likewise , control of the Tigris - Euphrates River complexthreatens to shake uplong - standing rivalry in the Middle East .
All of these instances intimate theera of “ water wars”may be on the horizon .
