Indiatoday.com
October 14, 2015
China is building the world’s highest hydropower project on the Brahmaputra River in Tibet. The Zam Hydropower Station was operationalised recently and the neighbouring country has taken control of the river that serves as a lifeline in North-East India. Over the past few years, the relation between India and China has not been definite. India fears China’s ability to release water or hold it in times of conflict, which can pose serious threat to states of North East India.
Earlier in 2013, an Inter-Ministerial Expert Group (IMEG) from India called for re-monitoring of Chinese dams and their impact on the flow of water. They had raised questions about dams Zangmu, Jiexu and Jiacha as they are only 25 kilometre apart and 550 kilometre from the Indian border.
Here are seven must-know facts about the Zam Hydropower Station:
1. Located in the Gyaca County, Shannan Prefecture, the Zam Hydropower Station is the world’s highest hydel power project and the largest of its kind.
2. The dam’s annual productivity is 2.5 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity.
3. The dam has six stations that harness the water of the Brahmaputra River in Tibet, where it is called the Yarlung Zangbo River.
4. The cost of establishing the dam was around 1.5 billion dollars.
5. The hydel power station will feed energy to the China Gezhouba Group, a major hydropower firm based in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei Province in central China.
6. In summer, production of electricity suits up in the region. During this period, the station will feed power to the neighbouring Qinghai province.
7. The Chinese government has assured their Indian counterpart that the station will operate as a run-of-the-river project, which means that there would be no maneuver at the station to hold the water flow.
