New Delhi: According to reports, China has given green signal for the construction of a dam which can potentially be the largest hydropower dam in the world. It marks the beginning of China’s ambitious project on the eastern rim of the Tibetan plateau and it could affect numerous people in India.
As per Power Construction Corp of China’s estimates in 2020, the dam could produce 300 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity every year. The dam is going to be situated in the Yarlung Zangbo River’s lower reaches. Notably, China houses the largest dam in the world, the Three Gorges Dam. The electricity production at the new dam will be more than triple the electricity production capacity of the Three Gorges Dam and its construction cost will be much more than that of the latter structure.
Three Gorges Dam: The largest dam in the world
The Three Gorges Dam is a hydroelectric gravity dam in central China and the largest dam structure in the world. It spans the Yangtze River in Hubei province, downstream of the Three Gorges, which are three adjacent and sequential gorges. Also, going by installed capacity, it is the largest power station in the world.
The construction of the Three Gorges Dam
The leaders of the erstwhile Chinese Nationalist Party first discussed the plan of the Three Gorges Dam in the 1920s. However, it received a boost when Mao Zedong, the supreme leader of the country, ordered studies on several sites in 1953 for the construction of the dam. In 1955, the detailed planning of the project began.
While the dam was touted to provide electricity to central China, there were many concerns regarding it like displacement of millions of people and environmental issues, due to which the project did not see the light of the day for almost 40 years. Finally in 1992, Premier Li Peng, who had himself trained as an engineer, persuaded the National People’s Congress approve of the dam. Its construction on December 14, 1994, and became fully operational in 2012. The cost of the construction was 254.2 billion yuan ($34.83 billion) including resettling 1.4 million people and the initial estimated cost was 57 billion yuan.
The benefits of the Three Gorges Dam
The Three Gorges Dam has possibly played the most crucial role in supplying electricity to the central China. The capacity of each of the state-of-the-art main water turbines is 700 MW. Overall, the Three Gorges Dam’s total electric generating capacity is 22,500 MW with minimal greenhouse gas emissions. The dam has increased the shipping capacity on the Yangtze River and reduced the likelihood of flooding downstream which had killed millions on the Yangtze Plain. To the Chinese government, the Three Gorges Dam is a monumental success for these factors.
China has approved construction of a massive hydropower dam on the Yarlung Zangbo River, potentially surpassing the Three Gorges Dam as the world’s largest. This ambitious project, located on the eastern Tibetan plateau, raises concerns about its impact on India. knowledge Knowledge News, Photos and Videos on General Knowledge
