The Three Gorges Hydropower Station is currently the largest hydropower station in the world, with an installed capacity of 22.5 million kilowatts and an average annual power generation of more than 100 billion kWh, but there is still a place on the mainland where a larger hydropower station can be built, and this place is the bend of the Brahmaputra River.
Everyone knows that this refers to the Medeau Hydropower Station, the news about the construction of this super hydropower station has been circulating for decades, but it has not yet been built, but also because this place is far away from the mountains, sparsely populated, and the geology is complex, the amount of engineering is large, the difficulty of building this hydropower station is much more than that of the Three Gorges, and the power can not be used on a large scale in the local area, and the transmission distance is very long, so many reasons have not started so far.
However, just a few days ago, on December 25, 2024, Xinhuanet and other media reported a heavyweight news: the mainland has officially approved the construction of hydropower projects in the lower reaches of the Brahmaputra River.
Although this news was brief, it was like a boulder entering the water, stirring up layers of ripples, and quickly attracted the attention and heated discussions of major media at home and abroad. Because the construction of a super hydropower station was approved this time, the amount of work and the difficulty of construction can be called unprecedented in the history of human water conservancy construction, and the power generation capacity after completion will be three times that of the Three Gorges Hydropower Station.
The Brahmaputra River, which originates from the Tibetan Plateau and is the upper reaches of the Brahmaputra River, has a total length of 2,057 kilometers and an annual runoff of 140 billion cubic meters at the exit of China, making it the third largest river in China after the Yangtze River and the Pearl River. The downstream section of the river drops sharply from 2,880 meters above sea level in Daduka Village in Milin County to 115 meters in Sika Village in Medog County, with a drop of more than 2,700 meters.
The huge amount of water, the huge drop and the unique topographic conditions give the Brahmaputra River rich water energy resources. It is estimated that the theoretical hydropower reserves of the entire main stream of the Brahmaputra River are as high as 80 million kilowatts, and the total hydropower reserves of the major tributaries can reach 110 million kilowatts, accounting for about one-sixth of China's total hydropower reserves, second only to the Yangtze River in China.
What is particularly striking is that the hydropower resources of the Brahmaputra River are basically concentrated within 50 kilometers of the big bend, and the hydropower resources here are as high as 70 million kilowatts, which is larger than the installed capacity of the three Three Gorges hydropower stations. For a long time, it was regarded as a "treasure land" for hydropower development, but it has remained at the level of imagination due to its huge investment, technical difficulties, and the involvement of international rivers. However, with the growth of national power and technological advancement, as well as the need for electricity supply, this vision is finally expected to become a reality.
There are Three Gorges in the east and Motuo in the west! The mainland's approval of the application for the construction of the Medog super-large hydropower station in the lower reaches of the Brahmaputra River also marks the beginning of the substantial construction phase of this world-class project. It is estimated that the construction of the hydropower station is expected to take ten years and the investment of one trillion yuan, which is the largest and most difficult in the world.
The construction site of the Medeau Hydropower Station is located in Medog County, Tibet Autonomous Region, which is located at the bend of the lower reaches of the Brahmaputra River, surrounded by primeval forests, towering cliffs, and a very complex geological environment. At present, there are no roads and railways in and out of the area, and there is no airport, so large machinery and equipment and a large number of construction materials cannot enter and exit at all. It is foreseeable that such a super-large project, which costs trillions and takes ten years, can be imagined in such a construction environment and construction conditions.
In order to build this world-class project, the implementers will have to face a series of unprecedented challenges. First of all, there is the logistical support of the construction team. Hundreds of thousands of construction workers, technicians, and management personnel need to be transported through difficult mountain roads.
Secondly, there is the problem of access to construction equipment. How to reach the construction site safely and punctually through rugged mountain roads and steep river valleys through large hydropower units and excavation machinery and other heavy equipment will be a huge test.
However, these are not the whole challenges. After the completion of the Medeau Hydropower Station, its power generation scale will be three times that of the Three Gorges Hydropower Station, and you can imagine its huge scale. Once the risk arises, it is like the explosion of a "nuclear bomb", which will cause fatal harm to the surrounding area and downstream. Therefore, how to ensure the safe operation of hydropower stations and prevent any possible accidents or attacks will be a major strategic issue.
Nowadays, the mainland has incomparable construction capacity in other countries in the world, and is known as the infrastructure madness, so it is difficult for us to build this hydropower station, but there are some international relations that need to be handled well, because the Brahmaputra River is an international river, after leaving the mainland border into India, and from India into Bangladesh, so India is more concerned about the project on this river.
Of particular note is the fact that the Medog Hydropower Station is located in Medog County, which is not very far from the border. Therefore, India has always opposed the construction of the power station, believing that once it is successfully built, it will be "stuck", and the dam can be used to store and discharge water at any time to control the amount of water coming downstream.
In fact, India's concerns are unfounded, we are developing the Brahmaputra to develop clean energy, reduce carbon emissions, cope with global climate change and hydrological disasters, and we will take safety measures so that there will be no adverse effects downstream. Not only that, but through cooperation in disaster prevention and mitigation, the people of the river basin can also benefit.
According to media reports, Sullivan from across the ocean visited India on January 5 and 6 this year, and the main purpose was to discuss the impact of our construction of the Medeau hydropower station. They ignore the fact that the clean energy that this hydropower station will bring to meet the electricity needs of 300 million people a year, and also ignore the benefits of our "scientific demonstration that it will not damage the downstream ecology, but will be conducive to disaster prevention and mitigation".
In fact, the implementation of any major project is indispensable to all kinds of opposition and obstructive actions, but as long as the overall is good, then there is value in construction, and the construction of the Medeau hydropower station is not only an important milestone in the development of China's hydropower industry, but also a major contribution to China's clean energy industry in the world. Therefore, we should perhaps vigorously promote the construction of this project to ensure that it is completed under the premise of safety, environmental protection and sustainability.
Source: Xinhuanet reported on December 25, 2024 that "the hydropower project in the lower reaches of the Brahmaputra River has been approved"