On July 19, the groundbreaking ceremony for the Yarlung Zangbo River downstream hydropower project (hereinafter referred to as the Yarlung Zangbo downstream hydropower project) was held in Nyingchi City, Tibet Autonomous Region. As a mega-scale water conservancy construction project, the Yarlung Zangbo downstream hydropower project involves a total investment of approximately 1.2 trillion yuan, making it the largest planned hydropower station project in the world today.

According to publicly available data, the Yarlung Zangbo downstream hydropower project has an installed capacity of 60–81 million kW and an annual power generation of 300 billion kW·h, equivalent to three Three Gorges Hydropower Stations. The project mainly adopts a development approach of "cutting the bend and straightening the channel, and diverting water through tunnels," and is expected to build five cascade hydropower stations. It is planned to partially commence power generation in 2030 and be fully completed in 2035, at which point it will complement wind and solar power generation in southeastern Tibet.

The construction of the Yarlung Zangbo downstream hydropower project not only sets a new global clean energy record, but will also bring a market development prospect of over 100 billion yuan to the construction machinery industry within the 10-year construction period.

According to a research report released by Galaxy Securities on July 22, based on the experience of the Three Gorges and other hydropower projects, calculating the total investment in construction machinery and equipment at 10%–15%, the equipment demand for the Yarlung Zangbo hydropower station is estimated at 120–180 billion yuan. Considering the relatively backward supporting infrastructure in the Medog area, high-altitude construction, construction in a strong earthquake zone, and the preference for new energy and unmanned equipment under environmental protection requirements, the equipment demand will be even higher.

At that time, large excavators, loaders, mining trucks, road machinery, tunneling machinery, crushing and screening equipment, piling machinery, lifting machinery, concrete machinery, and other construction machinery are expected to become the main categories in demand, positively driving the development of the industry.

Statistics from the China Construction Machinery Association (hereinafter referred to as the Association) show that in 2024, China's construction machinery industry achieved operating revenue of 816.5 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 0.79%. At present, although the adverse effects brought by changes in the external environment are increasing and the international situation is severe and complex, as macro-control efforts intensify and policy effects combine and take effect, favorable factors supporting the stable operation and high-quality development of the industry will continue to gather and increase. In particular, with the commencement of the Yarlung Zangbo downstream hydropower project, the development trend of the domestic construction machinery industry will inevitably be steadily positive in the future, with a significant upward cycle trend.

The Yarlung Zangbo downstream hydropower project is located in a high-altitude area above 3,000 m, with a complex geological environment and large temperature differences between day and night. The construction corridor passes through a strong earthquake zone and deeply buried strata. The combination of these boundary conditions imposes systematic constraints on construction machinery in terms of power attenuation control, low-temperature startup, seismic-resistant structures, automated operation, remote operation and maintenance, and emission indicators. In terms of actual construction requirements, in the environmental protection aspect alone, the project's tender documents list "zero exhaust emissions and low noise" as mandatory indicators.

Facing the extreme test of "green energy project + extreme environment construction," construction machinery enterprises have always taken national strategic needs as their responsibility. Even before the commencement order was issued, they had already quietly made their moves. Targeting extreme working conditions such as high altitude, strong humidity and cold, strong earthquake zones, and extremely complex geology, they have set up research teams, established specialized research institutions, carried out in-depth analysis of product demand for construction environments and cutting-edge technology research, and simultaneously deployed plateau test sites and maintenance centers, moving R&D, testing, and services forward to the front line of the snowy plateau.

It is reported that in the preliminary pilot projects of the Yarlung Zangbo downstream hydropower project, more than 20 types of electric complete-set products and intelligent equipment developed for the project have been put into use, including new energy excavators, loaders, dump trucks, concrete mixer trucks, wide-body trucks, bulldozers, road rollers, rock drilling jumbos, down-the-hole drills, double-wheel trench cutters, and tunneling machinery. The most cutting-edge innovation achievements of China's construction machinery enterprises have been unveiled at the Yarlung Zangbo downstream hydropower project, and the "pillars of the nation" are expected to undergo collective tempering in this world-class extreme working condition.

In fact, in recent years, in response to new changes in market demand for construction machinery, industry enterprises have continued to accelerate their transformation toward high-end, intelligent, and green development. Taking electric loaders as an example, the Association's latest statistics show that in the first half of 2025, cumulative sales of electric loaders reached 13,953 units, a year-on-year increase of 173%, accounting for 21.5% of total loader sales, up 12.6 percentage points year on year.

At the same time, the proportion of electric forklifts continues to rise, and electric non-road dump trucks, excavators, cranes, bulldozers, concrete machinery, and others are being mass-produced and put into use. Some industry enterprises have continued to make new progress in the R&D, manufacturing, and application of new energy construction machinery such as hydrogen, methanol, and hybrid power. In addition, a batch of large-scale and intelligent construction machinery products has been continuously introduced to the market, achieving good growth, reflecting significant results in product structure adjustment and large-scale, high-end, and green development.

Profound development heritage and solid technological accumulation, coupled with the catalysis of the "high threshold" requirements of the Yarlung Zangbo downstream hydropower project for construction machinery and equipment, will further accelerate the positive cycle of product and technology development in the construction machinery industry. Through the scenario test of extreme working conditions, the industry's high-end, intelligent, and green development will be further transformed into quantifiable technical indicators and market scale, thereby promoting the high-quality development of the construction machinery industry.

The advancement of the Yarlung Zangbo downstream hydropower project is not only expected to open up market space of over 100 billion yuan for the construction machinery industry, but may also drive a new round of optimization and upgrading of the industrial chain from materials and components to complete machines and full life cycle services.

The ultra-high requirements and challenges posed by the project for construction machinery and equipment will drive quality upgrading and accelerate domestic substitution of supporting products in the upstream of the construction machinery industry, such as plateau-specific engines, high-end hydraulic components, special steel, seismic-resistant structural parts, and intelligent systems; promote midstream complete machine manufacturers to form a product matrix of "plateau version, electric version, and unmanned version"; and drive simultaneous market expansion in downstream supporting industries such as construction machinery leasing, maintenance, finance, and training, giving rise to a more complete "manufacturing + services" dual-wheel-driven model.

The construction period of the Yarlung Zangbo downstream hydropower project is expected to be 10 years. Ten years of plateau verification is not only a collective major test for China's construction machinery industry chain's leap toward high-end, green, and intelligent development, but also a forging platform for the industry to transform plateau experience into global competitiveness.

In the future, when the clean electricity from the Yarlung Zangbo River reaches the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area directly along ±1100 kV high-voltage direct current lines, what will be left on the snowy plateau is not only a world-class hydropower energy corridor, but also a new height for China's construction machinery industry on the global map.