Qualla: Yamdrok Hydropower Station

Yamdrok Hydropower Station: Introduction

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Esther Lee from A, CC BY 2.0. The Panchen Lama said no. In 1985, when engineers proposed boring tunnels into the sacred Yamdrok Lake to generate hydroelectric power for Lhasa, Tibet's second-highest religious authority publicly criticized the project. His intervention halted construction the following year. Then the Panchen Lama died in 1989, and the project was relaunched. The Yamdrok Hydropower Station, completed in 1998 at a cost of nearly 2 billion yuan, stands as one of Tibet's most contentious infrastructure projects -- a collision between energy development and spiritual geography that remains unresolved.

Image: Esther Lee from A | CC BY 2.0

Yamdrok Hydropower Station: Tunnels Through Sacred Ground

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Esther Lee from A, CC BY 2.0. The engineering concept was elegant enough: rather than dam the lake, bore four tunnels, each 6 kilometers long, through the mountainside to carry water down an 840-meter vertical drop to turbines below. The water would discharge into the Yarlung Tsangpo River, and during off-pea...

Image: Esther Lee from A | CC BY 2.0

Yamdrok Hydropower Station: The Ceremony That Wasn't

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Esther Lee from A, CC BY 2.0. Construction began in 1991 when between 4,000 and 5,000 members of the People's Armed Police started work on the tunnels. By 1993, freshwater wells near the lake had begun drying up. The project spiraled into trouble. When Vice Premier Wu Bangguo arrived for a ceremony to switch ...

Image: Esther Lee from A | CC BY 2.0

Yamdrok Hydropower Station: A Lake That Cannot Be Repaid

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Esther Lee from A, CC BY 2.0. Yamdrok Tso sits at 4,441 meters elevation with a surface area of 638 square kilometers, making it the largest freshwater lake in southern Tibet. For Tibetans, it is far more than a reservoir. Some call it the Scorpion Lake and believe it holds the spirit of Tibet itself. The lak...

Image: Esther Lee from A | CC BY 2.0

Yamdrok Hydropower Station: Power and Its Price

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Esther Lee from A, CC BY 2.0. The Yamdrok station generates roughly 841 million kilowatt-hours annually, real electricity that powers real homes and businesses in Lhasa. Each of its turbines consumes two cubic meters of water per second. The investment cost nearly 2 billion yuan. These are facts that coexist ...

Image: Esther Lee from A | CC BY 2.0