At an estimated cost of $165 billion, its output would rival the entire installed nuclear capacity of France. Hydropower has long been seen as the country’s trump card—stable, controllable, and carbon-free at the point of production. The Motuo dam sits on the Yarlung Tsangpo River, which carves through Tibet before flowing into India as the Brahmaputra and then on to Bangladesh. Aerial view of the Great Bend of the Yarlung Zangbo River, Nyingchi, Tibet. The Three Gorges Dam in China.