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12-18-2025, 12:43 PM
Hundreds of miles from China’s populous coastline, a sharp bend in a remote Himalayan river is set to become the centerpiece of one of the country’s most ambitious – and controversial – infrastructure projects to date.
There, a $168 billion hydropower system is expected to generate more electricity than any other in the world – a vast boon for China as it hurtles toward a future where electric vehicles dominate its highways and power-hungry AI models race to out-compute international rivals.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping called for the project to be “advanced forcefully, systematically, and effectively” during a rare visit earlier this year to Tibet, a region where Beijing continues to tighten its grip in the name of economic growth and stability.
Experts say the hydropower system, built in the lower reaches of Tibet’s Yarlung Tsangpo river, will be a feat of engineering unlike any ever undertaken. Leveraging a 2,000-meter altitude drop by blasting tunnels through a mountain, it will enable China to harness a major river in a region known as Asia’s water tower and at a time when governments are sharpening their focus on water security.
The project could aid global efforts to slow climate change, by helping China – now the world’s largest carbon emitter – wean off coal-powered energy. But its construction could also disrupt a rare, pristine ecosystem and the ancestral homes of indigenous residents.
There, a $168 billion hydropower system is expected to generate more electricity than any other in the world – a vast boon for China as it hurtles toward a future where electric vehicles dominate its highways and power-hungry AI models race to out-compute international rivals.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping called for the project to be “advanced forcefully, systematically, and effectively” during a rare visit earlier this year to Tibet, a region where Beijing continues to tighten its grip in the name of economic growth and stability.
Experts say the hydropower system, built in the lower reaches of Tibet’s Yarlung Tsangpo river, will be a feat of engineering unlike any ever undertaken. Leveraging a 2,000-meter altitude drop by blasting tunnels through a mountain, it will enable China to harness a major river in a region known as Asia’s water tower and at a time when governments are sharpening their focus on water security.
The project could aid global efforts to slow climate change, by helping China – now the world’s largest carbon emitter – wean off coal-powered energy. But its construction could also disrupt a rare, pristine ecosystem and the ancestral homes of indigenous residents.
