China's first dam on Brahmaputra river opens

China on Sunday put into operation its first major dam on the middle reaches of the Brahmaputra river, with the first section of the 510 MW project taking off in Zangmu in Tibet.

The Zangmu dam, on which construction began in 2010, raised attention in India as the first major hydropower project on the middle reaches of the Brahmaputra, which has its source in Tibet.

Indian officials have said they have received assurances from China that the dam is a run of the river hydropower generation project, which will neither divert the river's waters nor have a major impact on downstream flows.

China's official Xinhua news agency said the first section of the $1.5 billion dam went into operation on Sunday afternoon. Five other sections will be completed next year. The dam will generate 2.5 billion kilowatt hours of electricity every year, Xinhua reported.

China's plans to build dams in Tibet have been a source of concern to India regarding the possible impact downstream.

To address those fears, both sides in July signed a first agreement that will allow Indian hydrological experts to conduct study tours to monitor the river's flow in Tibet.

According to the MoU, China will extend provision of hydrological data from May 15 to October 15 every year, adding half a month to an earlier agreement. The MoU followed a first agreement on transborder rivers signed in 2013 when then PM Manmohan Singh visited Beijing.

Last year, China gave the goahead for three new dams on the Yarlung Zangbo, one of which is even bigger than Zangmu, Tibet's biggest hydropower station. A 640 MW dam is slated for construction at Dagu, 18 km upstream of Zangmu. Two smaller dams will be built at Jiacha and Jiexu, also on the middle reaches.

The government has said it will "vigorously" push hydropower projects in Tibet in its current Five Year Plan (2011-15) to address the energy shortfall in the region.