(TibetanReview.net, Feb04’26) – The exploitable solar, wind and hydropower resources in western Tibet, demarcated by China as Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), alone could theoretically meet all of the energy needs of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), reported scmp.com Feb 4. citing government survey data.
The report cited researchers from the China Society for Hydropower Engineering and the state-owned Power Construction Corporation of China, as saying the technically exploitable capacity of hydropower in Tibet could reach 178 gigawatts, and more than 100GW for wind power.
Besides, they have said, the development potential of solar power could reach 10,000GW, which is theoretically enough to meet China’s current and future energy demand.
The report explained that “technically exploitable renewable capacity” refers to the portion of theoretical energy resources – such as the total solar radiation that hits the Earth – that could be harnessed for human use considering technical, geographic and environmental limits.
Despite the region’s significant energy potential, TAR’s fragile ecosystem warranted careful expansion of green power projects, the researchers have cautioned in a paper published in the Chinese journal Water Resources and Power on Jan 8. They have said extreme conditions, fragile ecology and spatial constraints limit the expansion of renewable energy in the Tibetan Plateau region.
But, of course, China has overcome technical limitations and entirely ignored environmental considerations in previous and ongoing mega-projects in Tibet, including the Qinghai-Tibet Railway and the world’s largest hydropower dam over the Yarlung Tsangpo close to the border with India.
Otherwise, just over a third of the land in the region is suitable for utility-scale solar development, large plants that are connected to a grid, the research team was stated to have said in a paper published in the journal Renewable Energy in December.
But even at the existing level of clean energy generation, the report said China already faces the challenge of a surplus of renewable energy being locked up in its energy-rich Tibetan regions, meaning transmission and storage infrastructure must be expanded for it to reach the power-hungry urban regions of China.
To overcome this problem, the State Grid Corporation of China announced earlier this month a 4 trillion yuan (US$575 billion) plan to upgrade the country’s power networks over the next five years – a 40% increase from the previous five-year period – which is expected to help expand renewable energy capacity and build transmission infrastructure.
And this month, China started construction on the southern section of the Tibet-Guangdong ultra-high-voltage power transmission line, which is expected to send the equivalent of half the energy produced by the Three Gorges Dam across the country each year, once it is completed in 2029, the report said.
To reach its carbon neutrality goal, China must install around 10,000GW of renewable energy by 2060. This will include nearly 600GW of hydropower, around 3,300GW of wind power and up to 6,500GW of solar power, the report noted.
The Tibetan Plateau – which encompasses the TAR and Qinghai province – is one of the most solar-rich regions in the world, second only to the Sahara. Besides, TAR possesses some of the most abundant solar, wind and hydropower resources in the PRC, the report further noted.
A paper presented at an Institute of Physics conference in 2021 by a researcher from the TAR Energy Research and Demonstration Centre was stated to have suggested that the development capacity of solar at an altitude below 5,000 metres (16,400 feet) could reach 12,000GW.