According to news coming out of China, they are preparing another Mega dam project. Information made available to the public suggests this dam will be the world’s tallest at a height of 314 metres (1030 feet). The new mega dam will be a subsidiary of one of China’s state owned power companies the Guodian Group.
The location of this new Mega dam is to be in South-Western Sichuan province on the Dadu river. The estimated cost is a huge £2.9 billion / $4.40 billion and the construction will take approximately 10 years from start to finish.
The design engineers believe this new dam could generate 8 billion KW-hours of electricity every year. Though it certainly doesn’t come without envirornmental costs, the Chinese environmental authorities gave the project the green light despite knowing the potential devastating effects of doing so.
“The project will affect the spawning and movement of rare fish species, as well as the growth of endangered plants, including the Chinese yew, which is under first-class state protection.”
The scale of the project implies that people will need to be relocated and nature relocated where possible. The costs may be large but China desperately needs new ways to meet its rapidly rising electricity demand in a more green way. By 2020 it aims to have 15% of energy supplied by “Green” sources.
China’s state council is currently debating whether or not to approve this new mega dam or not.
What are your thoughts? Are China leading the way with their green energy projects?
