In the early 1970s, a geological exploration team came to the Yangbajain area and found hot springs emitting heat.

[1] In 1975, the State Council of the People's Republic of China listed the geothermal development of Yangbajain as a key project of the national 5th "Five-Year Plan".

A group of people from Tsinghua University conductede experiments with a 300-kilowatt unit here, and on September 23, 1975, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau Scientific Research Team of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Third Geological Brigade of Tibet cooperated in installing a 300-kilowatt geothermal experimental unit to generate electricity successfully.

In October 1977, the first 1,000-kilowatt test unit of Yangbajain Geothermal Experimental Power Station generated electricity and was put into operation.

In 1985, Li Peng, the Vice Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, visited the Yangbajain Geothermal Power Plant, which had an installed capacity of 10 megawatts in that year, and sent power to Lhasa via a 110 kV transmission line.