China Approves Controversial Motuo Hydropower Project

China has greenlit the construction of the world's largest hydropower plant, the Motuo Hydropower Project, as part of its efforts to increase renewable energy and lower carbon output. The facility, whose power production will be three times that of the Three Gorges Dam, is being undertaken by China as a means of shoring up non-renewable energy production and lowering carbon output. But the move has generated controversy at large because of the susceptibility of the region to natural disasters, worries over its effects on the Tibetan population, and geopolitical strains with the downstream countries such as India and Bangladesh.

The Motuo Hydropower Project is a major part of China's vision to peak carbon emissions by 2030. Being the world's largest carbon emitter, China has been aggressively developing renewable energy, and in 2023 alone, it invested an astonishing $890 billion in hydropower, solar, and wind energy. Once realized, the project is set to provide power to millions of homes, supporting China's bid to address its rising energy needs as it weans itself off fossil fuels. For Philippe Benoit, managing director at Global Infrastructure Advisory Services 2050, China, together with other emerging economies, is experiencing a sharp rise in demand for energy at the same time it is pushing for decarbonization. The Chinese government also contends that the project will assist in alleviating water deficits on the Tibetan Plateau, upon which local communities depend to a great extent on glacier-melt water—an increasingly uncertain resource because of global warming.

Although it has its potential benefits, the project is attended by risks, essentially because of the fact that it is sited within one of the planet's most geologically insecure areas. The proposed location is at the Great Bend of the Yarlung Tsangpo River, in the Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon in Tibet, the world's deepest land canyon. The area, formed by the continuous convergence of the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates, is extremely susceptible to landslides, especially as glaciers in the basin retreat as a result of climate change.

A number of recent incidents have underscored the risks of constructing a large dam in such a volatile region. A March 2021 glacier collapse caused a huge landslide, spilling approximately 100 million tons of rock and ice into the river and causing water levels to swell enormously. A series of glacial landslides, which temporarily blocked the river, resulted in flooding in the valley in October 2018. Although evacuations in both cases were timely enough to avoid casualties, the destruction of infrastructure highlighted the vulnerability of the region. Experts say that future events could lead to waves breaking through the dam, unleashing floodwaters downstream and causing widespread destruction.

Aside from the environmental and geological threats, the project is also being criticized for its possible social and political impacts. Chinese large hydropower projects have traditionally resulted in massive displacement, and the Motuo Hydropower Project will likely be no different. The smaller Three Gorges Dam displaced a minimum of 1.4 million individuals, while more recent developments, including the Gangtuo Dam (also referred to as Kamtok Dam), have resulted in Tibetan communities being displaced. While China has not provided figures on how many individuals will be displaced by the Motuo project, fears are rising that whole towns, as well as important cultural and religious landmarks, will be submerged.

The Tibetans' forced resettlement is particularly disputed, due to the tensions that have characterized the region over a long time. Anti-hydropower protests in Tibet have been confronted by government crackdowns, such as earlier this year when Tibetan villagers and Buddhist monks protested the Gangtuo Dam project that would inundate the 700-year-old Wontoe Monastery. Police arrested protesters swiftly, reflecting on the wider opposition among Tibetans who see such projects as violating their autonomy.

Aggravating the controversy, the Motuo Hydropower Project is being built on a transboundary river that has its outlet into India and Bangladesh, which evokes diplomatic interests. Referred to as the Siang or Dihang River in Arunachal Pradesh, India, and afterwards as the Brahmaputra in the majority of India before its outlet into Bangladesh as the Jamuna River, the Yarlung Tsangpo River is a vital source of water for millions of individuals. India and Bangladesh have also both made clear their vigorous opposition to the project, fearing that it might interfere with their water supply. China's record of withholding data on water flows has only fueled tensions, with Indian authorities threatening that lower availability of water would have disastrous impacts on agriculture and livelihoods.

Following China's go-ahead for the project, India threatened to build its own dam on the Brahmaputra, saying that doing so would protect its water resources. Experts caution this may heighten a water-sharing war in the region further exacerbating tensions between China, India, and Bangladesh. Bryan Tilt, an Oregon State University anthropologist who researches Chinese dams, points out that this kind of competitive dam construction is typical in transboundary river conflicts and tends to result in increased tensions.

The Motuo Hydropower Project approval raises wider questions regarding reconciling the development of renewable energy with environmental, social, and geopolitical interests. Though it is necessary to move away from coal if climate change is to be fought, the threats involved in such a project—from natural disasters to the displacement of people and diplomatic consequences—can't be discounted. "From a climate change standpoint, this is what we would like to see China do," Benoit conceded. "We would like them to transition away from coal to a cleaner fuel, and hydropower is a cleaner fuel.". But you must strike the proper balance because the local populations are going to be disproportionately impacted.

As construction continues with limited information on whether local communities or neighboring nations have any say, issues of long-term consequences for the project remain unresolved. With the risk of landslides, social instability, and diplomatic contention, the Motuo Hydropower Project is a telling reflection of the layered difficulties of pursuing mega renewable energy infrastructure in politically sensitive and fragile states.

Source - phys.org