China has built multiple solar and hydro projects to sustain the increased energy requirements of its troops in the areas near the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with India. According to sources in security forces, the Chinese army has faced difficulty maintaining their large number of military bases built along the LAC. To tackle this issue, China has constructed many solar and hydel power plants to meet the energy requirements of their troops. The Chinese army has deployed almost 50,000 troops along the LAC since the 2020 aggression, and their energy needs have gone up considerably in the forward areas.
Even though the Chinese army has upgraded its infrastructure in a big way, the deployment of troops has been challenging due to energy requirements and extremely low temperatures. New habitats and villages have been built to support large-scale deployments, and the Chinese have continued to maintain large-scale deployments and are taking steps to support their long-term deployment.
The Indian army has also deployed almost an equal number of troops along the Eastern Ladakh sector to counter any possible misadventure by the Chinese. The army has also reoriented its focus towards the northern borders and deployed new formations along with dual tasking some of them for facing the two-front threat scenario.
The military stand-off between India and China has been going on for more than three years now. In 2020, China tried to unilaterally change the status quo at the LAC in Eastern Ladakh through large-scale aggression which led to tension between the two countries. Despite multiple rounds of talks, the disengagement process has not been successful yet.
Meanwhile, the deployment and energy requirements of the Chinese army still pose a challenge for their smooth operations along the LAC. The construction of solar and hydel power plants may reduce this problem to some extent, but it remains to be seen whether they sustain their troops’ needs effectively in the harsh conditions along the LAC.
