The Dam of All Dams: Assessing China’s Hydropower Ambitions on the Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibet

The Dam of All Dams: Assessing China’s Hydropower Ambitions on the Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibet

It’s kind of China’s moonshot. Nothing like it has been built before. And when a moon mission happens, the world is watching.” Brian Eyler on the International Risk Podcast On 19 July 2025, Chinese Premier Li Qiang presided over the ceremony marking the start of construction of the world’s largest hydropower dam project on the…

Palmo Tenzin

Palmo Tenzin

Palmo Tenzin is an Advocacy Officer and Senior Researcher for the International Campaign for Tibet (ICT). She is an experienced researcher and policy officer specialising in Chinese politics and contemporary Tibet, Sino-Tibetan relations and Asia-Pacific security. At ICT, Tenzin focuses on investigating and analyzing developments in Tibet, ranging from land management and environmental policies to…

Episode 276: China’s Push to Build the World’s Largest Hydropower Dam System in Tibet

On 19 July 2025, China began construction on a 60,000-megawatt hydropower project at Medog, with three times the output of Three Gorges and roughly the UK’s entire annual power production. This is a 1.2-trillion-yuan investment (USD 170B) that Beijing frames as clean energy and development. It is located in southeast Tibert, and only 30km upstream…

Brian Eyler

Brian Eyler

Brian Eyler is the Director of the Stimson Center‘s Southeast Asia and Energy, Water and Sustainability programs. He is widely recognised as a leading voice and expert on transboundary water-energy-food nexus security issues in the Mekong River Basin, having spent more than 15 years living and working in China. Eyler is the Co-Lead of the…