Worry for India: China operationalises biggest dam on Brahmaputra in Tibet

[Who.Cares]

The dam will produce produces 2.5 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity a year.

BEIJING: China on Tuesday operationalised the USD 1.5 billion Zam Hydropower Station, the largest in Tibet, built on the Brahmaputra river, which has raised concerns in India over the likelihood of disrupting water supplies.

All six of the station's units were incorporated into the power grid on Tuesday, the China Gezhouba Group, a major hydropower contractor based in Wuhan, capital of Hubei Province in central China told state-run Xinhua news agency.

Located in the Gyaca County, Shannan Prefecture, the Zam Hydropower Station also known as Zangmu Hydropower Station, harnesses the rich water resources of Brahmaputra known in Tibet as Yarlung Zangbo River, a major river which flows through Tibet into India and later into Bangladesh.

The dam, considered to be the world's highest-altitude hydropower station and the largest of its kind, will produce 2.5 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity a year.

"It will alleviate the electricity shortage in central Tibet and empower the development of the electricity-strapped region. It is also an important energy base in central Tibet," the company said.

Officials said when the electricity is ample in the summer season, part of the electricity will be transmitted to the neighbouring Qinghai province, Xinhua report said.

Investment of the hydropower station, about 140 kilometers from Tibetan capital Lhasa, totalled 9.6 billion yuan (about USD 1.5 billion).

The first unit began operations last November.

Reports in the past said besides Zangmu, China is reportedly building few more dams. China seeks to ally Indian fears saying that they are the run-of-the-river projects which were not designed to hold water.

The dams also raised concerns in India over China's ability to release water in times of conflict which could pose serious risk of flooding.

An Indian inter-ministerial expert group (IMEG) on the Brahmaputra in 2013 said the dams were being built on the upper reaches and called for further monitoring considering their impact on the flow of waters to the lower reaches.

The IMEG noted that the three dams, Jiexu, Zangmu and Jiacha are within 25km of each other and are 550km from the Indian border.

India has been taking up the issue with China for the past few years the two countries reached.

Under the understanding reached in 2013, Chinese side agreed to provide more flood data of Brahmaputra from May to October instead of June to October in the previous agreements river water agreements in 2008 and 2010.

India is concerned that if the waters are diverted, then projects on the Brahmaputra, particularly the Upper Siang and Lower Suhansri projects in Arunachal Pradesh, may get affected.

 

[Talwar e Pakistan]

The dam will produce produces 2.5 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity a year.

BEIJING: China on Tuesday operationalised the USD 1.5 billion Zam Hydropower Station, the largest in Tibet, built on the Brahmaputra river, which has raised concerns in India over the likelihood of disrupting water supplies.

All six of the station's units were incorporated into the power grid on Tuesday, the China Gezhouba Group, a major hydropower contractor based in Wuhan, capital of Hubei Province in central China told state-run Xinhua news agency.

Located in the Gyaca County, Shannan Prefecture, the Zam Hydropower Station also known as Zangmu Hydropower Station, harnesses the rich water resources of Brahmaputra known in Tibet as Yarlung Zangbo River, a major river which flows through Tibet into India and later into Bangladesh.

The dam, considered to be the world's highest-altitude hydropower station and the largest of its kind, will produce 2.5 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity a year.

"It will alleviate the electricity shortage in central Tibet and empower the development of the electricity-strapped region. It is also an important energy base in central Tibet," the company said.

Officials said when the electricity is ample in the summer season, part of the electricity will be transmitted to the neighbouring Qinghai province, Xinhua report said.

Investment of the hydropower station, about 140 kilometers from Tibetan capital Lhasa, totalled 9.6 billion yuan (about USD 1.5 billion).

The first unit began operations last November.

Reports in the past said besides Zangmu, China is reportedly building few more dams. China seeks to ally Indian fears saying that they are the run-of-the-river projects which were not designed to hold water.

The dams also raised concerns in India over China's ability to release water in times of conflict which could pose serious risk of flooding.

An Indian inter-ministerial expert group (IMEG) on the Brahmaputra in 2013 said the dams were being built on the upper reaches and called for further monitoring considering their impact on the flow of waters to the lower reaches.

The IMEG noted that the three dams, Jiexu, Zangmu and Jiacha are within 25km of each other and are 550km from the Indian border.

India has been taking up the issue with China for the past few years the two countries reached.

Under the understanding reached in 2013, Chinese side agreed to provide more flood data of Brahmaputra from May to October instead of June to October in the previous agreements river water agreements in 2008 and 2010.

India is concerned that if the waters are diverted, then projects on the Brahmaputra, particularly the Upper Siang and Lower Suhansri projects in Arunachal Pradesh, may get affected.

Cut em off, just like how they illegally are doing to us.

 

[bongbang]

Cut em off, just like how they illegally are doing to us.

Totally cutting them off not a good idea for BD. But they can use it to occasionally flash flood in Indian NE.

 

[Patriot Pakistani]

oops hahahah

 

[AMCA]

Lets link the river with our neighbors and share our Fate.

 

[AnnoyingOrange]

In Case Pakistanis and Bangladeshis are getting too happy about the news item... let me wake you guys up:

Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Water Resources, the Republic of India and the Ministry of Water Resources, the People’s Republic of China on Strengthening Cooperation on Trans-bor

And the dam is already full.. the electricity generation already begian last year... and there has been no shortage of water flow so far.....

While the dams have raised concern in India, Indian officials say China has assured the Indian government that the river's downstream flows, which also depends on catchment areas located downstream of the dams, will not be adversely affected.

To assuage concerns, both countries last year signed an agreement to allow Indian hydrological experts to conduct study tours to directly monitor the river's flow in Tibet and to extend provision of hydrological data in the flood season.

During Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to China in May, both sides also agreed to step up cooperation through an expert-level Mechanism on the provision of flood-season hydrological data, emergency management and other transborder river issues.

China's first hydropower dam on Brahmaputra is fully operational : World, News - India Today

 

[ganesh623]

Cut em off, just like how they illegally are doing to us.

Cut off brahmaputra ? I dont think its even posssble.

Too big and too much of water.

Anyways india will also build dam on this river.

 

[nik141991]

80% of brahmputra river catchment area lies well within India we don't need to worry about anything , only problem is for lower rep Arian which in this case is mighty bangladesh

 

[Wardaddy]

In Case Pakistanis and Bangladeshis are getting too happy about the news item... let me wake you guys up:


And the dam is already full.. the electricity generation already begian last year... and there has been no shortage of water flow so far.....

While the dams have raised concern in India, Indian officials say China has assured the Indian government that the river's downstream flows, which also depends on catchment areas located downstream of the dams, will not be adversely affected.

To assuage concerns, both countries last year signed an agreement to allow Indian hydrological experts to conduct study tours to directly monitor the river's flow in Tibet and to extend provision of hydrological data in the flood season.

During Prime Minister's visit to China in May, both sides also agreed to step up cooperation through an expert-level Mechanism on the provision of flood-season hydrological data, emergency management and other transborder river issues.

Try to dig deeper...you are not facing water shortage but just imagine, in case of war, THIS can be used as a tool for war and this indeed is a matter of big concern mate...UNDERSTAND...Now there are lesser chances that you can mess with China and ultimately Pakistan.

 

[AnnoyingOrange]

Try to dig deeper...you are not facing water shortage but just imagine, in case of war, THIS can be used as a tool for war and this indeed is a matter of big concern mate...UNDERSTAND...Now there are lesser chances that you can mess with China and ultimately Pakistan.

What can Chinese destroy... nothing... The areas that Brahmaputra can potentially flood are anyways seen as flood prone areas in India... and it touches only 5.9% of Indian landmass...

Look at the catchment areas of the river... and see what China can do about it...