India plans to build at least 208 hydroelectric projects across the Brahmaputra basin to counter China's massive dam project on the same river, officials privy to the matter told Moneycontrol.
“According to our studies, at least 208 large projects (of more than 25 megawatts each) can be built across 12 sub-basins of the Brahmaputra River. These would amount to a total capacity of nearly 65,000 MW,” said a government official, requesting anonymity.
The multi-project approach is being undertaken to diversify India’s assets across the river and to address the entire stretch, which is prone to Glacial Lake Outburst Floods and flash flood scenarios, the official added.
China is building a 60,000 MW hydropower project, the world's largest, on the Yarlung Tsangpo river in Tibet (known as the Brahmaputra in India and Jamuna in Bangladesh), near Gelling, in Arunachal Pradesh.
For context, India’s total existing hydropower capacity is nearly 50,000 MW, while China’s upcoming project alone will be 10,000 MW more than India’s combined hydel installations. China’s current hydro capacity is about 436 gigawatt (GW).
Of the 65,000 MW identified capacity, India’s biggest hydropower plant planned so far is the 11,000 MW Siang Upper Multipurpose Project (SUMP) in Arunachal Pradesh. However, the project has been stuck for a decade due to opposition from local communities. It was only in May this year that India’s biggest state-run hydropower company, NHPC, moved survey materials under armed police protection near the prospective site. No deadline has been set for the project so far.
“All efforts are being made to expedite this marquee project, which is being followed up by the PMO as well,” a second official said.
The Brahmaputra basin spans parts of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Sikkim, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Manipur, Nagaland and West Bengal, and holds more than 80 percent of India's untapped hydro potential, with Arunachal Pradesh alone accounting for 52.2 GW, according to documents from the Ministry of Power.
The planned capacity of 65,000 MW on the Brahmaputra basin includes 4,807 MW existing capacity and another 2,000 MW, which is under construction. Besides, the plan also includes pumped hydro storage projects and tiny hydro projects that are of lower capacity than 25 MW each.
China’s project, construction of which began in July this year, involves five cascade dams and is expected to be completed between 2030 and 32. Once ready, it will be three times more powerful than the Three Gorges Dam, also located in China and currently the world’s largest hydropower station.
On August 7, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said that India is “carefully monitoring” the development and the matter was raised by Foreign Affairs Minister S Jaishankar during his visit to China in July.
Arunachal Pradesh’s Chief Minister Pema Khandu said the dam being built near the state’s border will be a ticking "water bomb". “Setting aside the military threat from China, it seems to me that this is a far bigger issue than anything else. It is going to cause an existential threat to our tribes and our livelihoods. It is quite serious because China could even use this as a sort of 'water bomb'," he said in July this year.
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