The focus of China’s sprawling hydropower industry is increasingly shifting to Tibet, according to researchers and a Tibetan advocacy group’s study, highlighting the potential for unrest and environmental damage in a region that Chinese officials have long viewed as a source of resources for the industrialized east.
China has built an estimated 22,000 large dams – about 40% of the world’s total – to help power several decades of rapid industrialization and economic growth, maxing out the hydropower potential of many rivers. The exception has been the Tibetan plateau.
The roof-of-the-world region, invaded and annexed by China in the middle of the last century, is the headwaters of major rivers in Asia and home of Himalayan glaciers that are a source of water for hundreds of millions of people.
It has about 110 gigawatts of untapped hydropower potential that could fuel the economy of China’s east, a researcher said, citing government figures. A single gigawatt is enough power for 100 million light bulbs.
In 2013, academic Tashi Tsering catalogued a total of 114 dams either built on three major rivers in Tibet or proposed for them.
A decade later, the number of constructed and proposed dams is at least 193 and probably much higher, according to a two-year desktop research project
China’s long-term plans to divert major rivers are also contentious and have faced domestic criticism from some Chinese engineers. If ever carried out, diversions could also inflame tensions with India since some of the plans affect transboundary rivers.
ICT’s research is framed by a political agenda and it refers to Tibet as occupied by China. No country recognizes Tibet as a sovereign state. Experts not involved in the research had mixed opinions of its quality.
Two of them said the findings were plausible. One expert on hydropower in China had several criticisms including the methodology for estimating potential populations affected and that it failed to sufficiently differentiate between dams built for hydropower and other purposes such as water supply and flood control.
The research, this expert said, has a focus on China whereas the rapid pace of hydropower development in the entire Himalayan region including India, Bhutan and Nepal is more pertinent.
This expert did not want to be named in relation to the ICT report as they feared it could result in denial of permission to carry out research in China.
ICT compiled publicly available information on proposed and already built dams in Tibet and analysis of satellite imagery to arrive at its figures. Using population data for locations where dams are planned, it estimated that between 750,000 and 1.5 million people could be forced to relocate if all of the dams are built.
carried out by International Campaign for Tibet, or ICT, a Washington-based group that campaigns for Tibetan self-determination.
Globally, the hydropower industry promotes dams as an environmentally friendly energy source without the drawbacks of volatile wind and solar power. However, dams often impose significant costs such as eviction of communities, destruction of fisheries and impoundment of sediments that fertilize river deltas while only benefiting the narrow financial interests of dam builders and operators.
