China’s Yarlung Tsangpo project will be the largest hydroelectric project on Earth. What does that mean for India, and the Brahmaputra?

By Samrat Choudhury and Shiv Nadar University, Delhi-NCR | 360info

On July 19, Chinese Premier Li Qiang attended a groundbreaking ceremony in Tibet to mark the start of what China calls the Yarlung Zangbo Lower Reaches Hydropower Project. When completed, this will be the largest hydroelectric project in the world, with an installed capacity of 60,000 MW. A hydroelectric project to dam the river in Tibet has been rumoured for decades, and caused several cycles of anxiety in India, because the Yarlung Tsangpo (called Zangbo by the Chinese) eventually, after a formative confluence of tributaries in the foothills of Arunachal Pradesh, becomes the Brahmaputra.

Summary by Probe International

Note: The Yarlung Tsangpo or Yarlung Zangbo River is known as the Brahmaputra in India and Jamuna in Bangladesh. See here for key facts related to the Brahmaputra River System.

While India’s muted response to China’s megadam in Tibet stems from understanding the Brahmaputra’s hydrology—formed by key Indian tributaries (Lohit, Dibang, Siang) rather than solely the Tsangpo—the project’s risks loom large.

The centerpiece is an ambitious network of tunnels designed to reroute the flow of the Yarlung Tsangpo River around the Great Bend of the river’s natural U-turn. These tunnels—each at least 20 km long and 10 m wide—would divert water through five cascading hydropower stations, where rushing currents spin turbines to generate electricity before returning the water downstream.

This engineering strategy mirrors China’s Jinping II project on the Yalong River, which carved 16.6 km, 12-13 m wide tunnels through a similar mountainous bend, underscoring the unprecedented scale and geological risks of repurposing riverbeds for energy megaprojects.

The dam could spur India’s own mega-projects, such as the 11,000 MW Siang dam (making it by far the largest in India), despite local opposition, accelerating the end of free-flowing rivers.

By contrast to Western trends of dam removal, geopolitical pragmatism, financial incentives, and entrenched dam-building cultures in both China and India override environmental concerns. Ultimately, the Brahmaputra basin faces irreversible transformation, balancing energy ambitions against ecological fragility and transboundary tensions.

Read the 360info report in full at the publisher’s website here.

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