China to build world’s tallest 3D-printed 180 meters tall Dam in Tibet using robots 

DHARAMSALA, 13 May: China is going to build the world’s first 3D printed dam on the Ma Chu (Yellow River) in Tibet as it continues its rampant damming of the waters in Tibet.

Using artificial intelligence, China will build the world’s tallest 3D-printed structure, a massive 180 meters tall Yangqu hydropower plant dam in Tibet- completely with robots, media reports said.

According to reports, the world’s largest 3D robot printing project, which is being carried out by the Science and Technology Department of Tsinghua University is set to be completed within two years.

It is being reported that the plant will be built slice by slice using the same additive manufacturing process used in 3D printing, unmanned excavators, trucks, bulldozers, pavers and rollers, all controlled by AI.

The ambitious project has already started at “Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture,” the South China Morning Post reported  and aded that it will see the first unit of the Yangqu hydropower plant completed and put into operation at the end of 2024, while the whole plant will be completed in 2025.

Once completed, China will export 5 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity each year from the dam in Tibet to China’s Henan province.

However as Global Order reported, China keeps pushing its “hydro-hegemony” to dominate the water economy and ecology in the south and south-east Asia by pursuing a series of mega-dam projects over rivers in Tibet, with disastrous impacts on Asia’s major rivers. 

China’s rampant damming of the waters in Tibet, the water tower of Asia has seriously impacted the downstream countries. India and Bangladesh being a lower riparian state, has rights to the waters of the trans-border rivers under international law and has long expressed their concern over the damming of the river. 

While the Yangqu dam has a concrete-face rock-fill dam on the Yellow River and has been in operation since 2016, media reports said that “the new project is likely to be an expansion of the existing hydropower plant.”

China has over 30,000 dams, more than the rest of the world combined. 

Ten major Asian river systems flow from Tibet into 11 countries: China, India, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Burma, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, and Pakistan.