Since you also posted https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44640233, which includes discussion of the Grand Inga Dam but also the broader issue of big dams, and because we need to avoid repetition/overlap in front-page stories, I'll bury this submission and leave the other one up.
>To put it in perspective, it will have a generating capacity far greater than that of the Three Gorges dams in China and Itaipu in Brazil. With a projected capacity to produce 40.000 megawatts of power, the Grand Inga Dam is more than just an ambitious megaproject.
Three Gorges Dam's capacity is actually 22,500 MW (not 80), and the Yarlung Tsangpo project in Tibet is estimated at 60,000 MW (not 300), making Grand Inga's proposed 40,000 MW capacity indeed significant but not the largest.
Is the CCP funding this? Saw no mention in the article of what government is footing the bill, is the DRC really paying $80B for this? Thats higher than their entire GDP of $66.8B.
See also:
In a major reversal, the world bank is backing mega dams (2024) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44640233
Story by BBC in January: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c62jmq0z89jo
I tried to read, but that has to be the most user hostile site I’ve ever encountered. Ads and taking me unexpectedly to try to download apps. Wtf
Sorry, you could use reader view mode, or try this similar (older) story:
https://edition.cnn.com/2013/06/28/business/biggest-hydropow...
Since you also posted https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44640233, which includes discussion of the Grand Inga Dam but also the broader issue of big dams, and because we need to avoid repetition/overlap in front-page stories, I'll bury this submission and leave the other one up.
Alright
>To put it in perspective, it will have a generating capacity far greater than that of the Three Gorges dams in China and Itaipu in Brazil. With a projected capacity to produce 40.000 megawatts of power, the Grand Inga Dam is more than just an ambitious megaproject.
Am I missing something here?
Three Gorges damn has capacity of 80, the new Tibet dam that China already started building has a capacity 300 megawatts https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jul/21/china-starts-b...
Three Gorges Dam's capacity is actually 22,500 MW (not 80), and the Yarlung Tsangpo project in Tibet is estimated at 60,000 MW (not 300), making Grand Inga's proposed 40,000 MW capacity indeed significant but not the largest.
The source for that number states 22.5 gigawatts capacity. 88.2 is the annual production in TWh. (Or 98TWh according to Wikipedia)
Your numbers are wrong. Three Gorges is 22.5GW, not 80.
Is the CCP funding this? Saw no mention in the article of what government is footing the bill, is the DRC really paying $80B for this? Thats higher than their entire GDP of $66.8B.