Hydropower In Nepal
Three Gorges Dam
The Three Gorges Dam is the world's largest power station in terms of installed capacity (22,500 MW) .... As well as producing electricity, the dam is intended to increase the Yangtze River's shipping capacity and reduce the potential for floods downstream by providing flood storage space. The Chinese government regards the project as a historic engineering, social and economic success, with the design of state-of-the-art large turbines, and a move toward limiting greenhouse gas emissions. However, the dam flooded archaeological and cultural sites and displaced some 1.3 million people, and is causing significant ecological changes, including an increased risk of landslides. The dam has been a controversial topic both domestically and abroad. ...... A large dam across the Yangtze River was originally envisioned by Sun Yat-sen in The International Development of China, in 1919. He stated that a dam capable of generating 30 million horsepower (22 GW) was possible downstream of the Three Gorges. ........ On completion, the reservoir flooded a total area of 632 square kilometres (244 sq mi) of land ..... Full cost recovery is expected to occur ten years after the dam starts full operation ...... The dam was expected to provide 10% of China's power. However, electricity demand has increased more quickly than planned. Even fully operational, on average, it supports only about 1.7% of electricity demand in China in the year of 2011 ...... At full power, Three Gorges reduces coal consumption by 31 million tonnes per year, avoiding 100 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions, millions of tonnes of dust, one million tonnes of sulfur dioxide, 370,000 tonnes of nitric oxide, 10,000 tonnes of carbon monoxide, and a significant amount of mercury. Hydropower saves the energy needed to mine, wash, and transport the coal from northern China. ....... From 2004 to 2007 a total of 198 million tonnes of goods passed through the ship locks. ..... sedimentation projections are not agreed upon, and the other is that the dam sits on a seismic fault. ..... China's huge reforestation effort. This accelerated after severe flooding in 1998 convinced the government that it must restore tree cover, especially in the Yangtze's basin upstream of the Three Gorges Dam ..... home to 6,388 species of plants, which belong to 238 families and 1508 genera. Of these plant species, 57 percent are endangered. These rare species are also used as ingredients in traditional Chinese medicines ....... the Yangtze River basin is home to 361 different fish species and accounts for twenty-seven percent of all endangered freshwater fish species in China ..... The reservoir's flood storage capacity is 22 cubic kilometres ... This capacity will reduce the frequency of major downstream flooding from once every ten years to once every 100 years. The dam is expected to minimize the effect of even a "super" flood ....... Since the filling of the reservoir in 2003, the Three Gorges Dam has supplied an extra 11 cubic kilometres of fresh water to downstream cities and farms during the dry season .... The installation of ship locks is intended to increase river shipping from ten million to 100 million tonnes annually, as a result transportation costs will be cut between 30 and 37%. Shipping will become safer, since the gorges are notoriously dangerous to navigate. Ships with much deeper draft will be able to navigate 2,400 kilometres (1,500 mi) upstream from Shanghai all the way to Chongqing. It is expected that shipping to Chongqing will increase fivefold
China's Three Gorges Dam: An Environmental Catastrophe?
For over three decades the Chinese government dismissed warnings from scientists and environmentalists that its Three Gorges Dam—the world's largest—had the potential of becoming one of China's biggest environmental nightmares. But last fall, denial suddenly gave way to reluctant acceptance that the naysayers were right. ..... When complete, the dam will generate 18,000 megawatts of power—eight times that of the U.S.'s Hoover Dam on the Colorado River. .... "There's been a lot less rain, a lot more drought, and the potential for increased disease" ..... "When it comes to environmental change, the implementation of the Three Gorges dam and reservoir is the great granddaddy of all changes." ..... Inhabited for several millennia, the Three Gorges region is now a major part of western China's development boom. To date, the government has ordered some 1.2 million people in two cities and 116 towns clustered on the banks of the Yangtze to be evacuated to other areas before construction, promising them plots of land and small stipends—in some cases as little as 50 yuan, or $7 a month—as compensation. ....... The first of the Yangtze's famed gorges—a collection of steep bluffs at a bend in the river—was determined to be the perfect site. ...... a narrow lake 410 miles (660 kilometers) long—60 miles (97 kilometers) longer than Lake Superior ..... the landslides are directly linked to filling the reservoir. Water first seeps into the loose soil at the base of the area's rocky cliffs, destabilizing the land and making it prone to slides. ..... One of the greatest fears is that the dam may trigger severe earthquakes, because the reservoir sits on two major faults: the Jiuwanxi and the Zigui–Badong. ...... officials failed to foresee the full magnitude of the dam's effects ..... half of China's animal and plant species, including the beloved giant panda and the Chinese sturgeon, are found no where else in the world. The Three Gorges area alone accounts for 20 percent of Chinese seed plants—more than 6,000 species. ..... Downstream, near where the river empties into the East China Sea, the land around the Yangtze contains some of the densest clusters of human habitation in the world, and overfishing there has already endangered 25 of the river's 177 unique fish species. ..... When officials unveiled plans for the dam, they touted its ability to prevent floods downstream. Now, the dam seems to be causing the opposite problem, spurring drought in central and eastern China. ..... the dam had reduced the flow volume of the river by 50 percent. To make matters worse, China is now plowing ahead with a controversial $62-billion scheme to transfer water from the Yangtze to northern China, which is even more parched, through a network of tunnels and canals to be completed by 2050. ..... "Once you dramatically change the climate and change water patterns, as is now seen in the Three Gorges region," he says, "you change a lot of environmental variables. Almost all infectious diseases are up for grabs." ..... President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao are eager to distance themselves from a project they inherited. ..... Government officials fear that continued free discussion of the project's ramifications could lead to civil unrest. ..... China still draws 82 percent of energy from coal, but large dams are crucial to the country's climate change program, which aims to increase its proportion of electricity from renewable resources from the current 7.2 percent to 15 percent by 2020. Over one third of that will come from hydropower—more than from any other source. Twelve new dams are planned for the upper Yangtze alone. ..... [a river] is also important for shipping, alleviating pollution, sustaining species and ecosystems, and maintaining a natural evolutionary balance." .... "The Yangtze doesn't belong to the Three Gorges Project Development Corporation," Fan adds. "It belongs to all of society."
China's Three Gorges Dam
a dam one and a half miles wide and more than 600 feet high that will create a reservoir hundreds of feet deep and nearly 400 miles long ..... the dam's hydropower turbines are expected to create as much electricity as 18 nuclear power plants. .... the largest construction project in China since the Great Wall. Many high-ranking Chinese officials expect the dam to become a potent symbol of their nation's vitality in the new century and the new millennium. ..... authorities hope the dam will take care of several major national problems with a single monumental stroke. .... The Yangzi's notorious floods have been recorded for millennia and have claimed more than 1 million lives in the past 100 years. ..... Officials hope the combination of inexpensive electricity and cheap river transportation will further open the region to international investment -- making Chongqing a major business center. .... Allegations of corruption among officials involved with the project have raised fears of shoddy construction. The Chinese media recently reported several incidents in which corruption and poor construction have led to disasters at major building projects. Notable among the reports was the collapse of a steel bridge in the city of Chongqing in January 1999 that killed 40 people. ..... Li Peng, the former Chinese premier and Soviet-trained engineer who spearheaded the dam's construction. .... The dam will "drown" more than 100 towns once the water starts to rise in 2003. .... Archaeologists and historians have estimated nearly 1,300 important sites will disappear under the reservoir's waters ..... More than 20,000 workers are working around the clock on the dam itself.
Great Wall Across The Yangtze
Swimming
Great plans are afoot:
A bridge will fly to span the north and south,
Turning a deep chasm into a thoroughfare;
To hold back Wushan's clouds and rain
Till a smooth lake rises in the narrow gorges.
The mountain goddess if she is still there
Will marvel at a world so changed.
- poem by China's former Communist Leader Mao Tse-tung
The Three Gorges project has been engineered to store over 5 trillion gallons of water and to withstand an earthquake of 7.0 on the Richter scale. The reservoir will allow 10,000-ton freighters to enter the nation's interior, which currently limits access to boats under 1,500 tons. In addition to increasing commercial shipping access to China's interior, the government says the dam will control devastating floods and provide much-needed electrical power to China's growing cities. .... Like China's Great Wall, it will be one of the few man-made structures visible from space.
Biggest flood peak passes Three Gorges Dam
As the world's largest water hydropower project, the Three Gorges Project consists of a dam, a five-tier ship dock and a total of 32 hydropower turbo-generators.
China Admits Problems With Three Gorges Dam
The Three Gorges Dam, the world’s largest hydroelectric project and a symbol of China’s confidence in risky technological solutions, is troubled by urgent pollution and geologic problems, a high-level government body acknowledged. ..... According to official figures, the venture cost China about $23 billion, but outside experts estimate it may have cost double that amount. The dam has been plagued by reports of floating archipelagoes of garbage, carpets of algae and landslides on the banks along the vast expanse of still water ..... the government has fallen far short of its goals in helping to resettle the 1.4 million people displaced by the rising waters behind the dam. ..... denied that the project played any role in China’s powerful May 2008 quake in Sichuan Province, in which at least 87,000 people died. .... Faced with a historic drought this spring, cities downstream of the dam have been unable to accommodate oceangoing vessels that usually visit their ports, and about 400,000 residents of Hubei Province lost access to drinking water this month. ..... the dam has changed regional water tables, contributing to the shortage. .... some problems were anticipated during the dam’s construction, but that others “arose because of new demands posed by economic and social development.” .... “My sense is that the Chinese government is getting better and better at collecting information about things like this.”
Hydropower In Nepal: Videos
Hydropower In Nepal: Images
Hydropower in Nepal
Nepal has approximately 40,000 MW of economically feasible hydropower potential. However, the present situation is that Nepal has developed only approximately 600 MW of hydropower. ..... only about 40% of Nepal's population has access to electricity. Most of the power plants in Nepal are run-of-river type with energy available in excess of the in-country demand during the monsoon season and deficit during the dry season. ...... in the entire scenario of energy use of the country, the electricity is a tiny fraction, only 1% energy need is fulfilled by electricity. The bulk of the energy need is dominated by fuel wood (68%), agricultural waste (15%), animal dung (8%) and imported fossil fuel (8%). ...... the development of hydropower will help to achieve the millennium development goals with protecting environment, increasing literacy, improving health of children and women with better energy. ...... The electricity demand in Nepal is increasing by about 7-9% per year. ..... The power system is dominated by the hydropower which contributes about 90 % of the system and the balance is met by multi fuel plant. The hydropower development in Nepal began with the development of 500 kW Pharping power plant in 1911. The most recent significant power plant commissioned is the 144-MW Kali Gandaki “A” Hydroelectric Plant. ...... Until 1990, hydropower development was under the domain of government utility, Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) only. However, with the enactment of new Hydropower Development Policy 1992, the sector was opened to the private sector also. There are number of projects already built by the private developers. Private power producers contribute 148 MW of power to the ‘Integrated Nepal Power System'
Hydropower in Nepal
World's 20% of electricity is by Hydropower. In contrary, 96% of electricity in Nepal is by Hydropower ...... Hydropower electricity is environment friendly - no pollution in air or in land, and, is also the most efficient method of all
Himalayan Hydropower
Nepal is one of the poorest countries in the world—a quarter of its population lives on less than US$1 per day, and unemployment rates are over 40 percent. With a population of over 29 million, Nepal is facing an upward trajectory in energy demand, resulting in energy shortage situations where less than half of the nation’s electricity needs are met. In recent years, during the coldest winter months, Nepalis have experienced power cuts for over 16 hours per day. ..... The combination of poverty and political instability has stunted the growth of an otherwise vibrant and culturally rich society, endowed with the breathtaking Himalayas, rich biodiversity, and most importantly, water. ........ current annual hydropower output to be at 634 MW, grossly below potential and insufficient to meet domestic energy demand. ......... Nepal’s steps for future development lie in harnessing the full potential of hydropower ...... there exists a tremendous market potential in India and China. ...... better ameliorate the social and economic costs of such projects by employing local populations in the construction of projects, implementing skills-based technical training, improving local schools, and operating with deference to local authorities and laws. ...... With its proximity to the world’s two most populous nations, Nepal should channel its own liquid gold to support domestic electricity needs and export to energy-hungry markets
Nepal approves hydropower project
The government of Nepal has given the green light for China Three Gorges Corp.'s $1.6 billion hydropower project on the West Seti River..... The West Seti approval came after China Three Gorges, China' largest hydropower development company and operator of China's massive Three Gorges Dam, on March 16 threatened to pull out of the 750 megawatt project if it didn't move forward...... Nepal's state power utility would have a 25 percent share in the project and China Three Gorges the rest..... Construction is to start in 2015, with electricity generation to begin starting in 2019...... Nepal says the estimated $1.6 billion cost for West Seti will come from China Three Gorges as well as from a loan from China's Exim Bank. It says the 3.33 billion units of energy the project is expected to supply is intended for domestic consumption..... The project license for West Seti was previously awarded in 1994 to Australia's Snowy Mountains Engineering Corp. but was scrapped last July. Under the terms of that license, Nepal was to receive 10 percent of the project's 750 megawatts of electricity along with a nominal royalty from SMEC's profit from the project, with the remaining 90 percent of the power exported to India
Nepal turns back on hydropower
The Himalayas provide Nepal with fast flowing rivers, ideal for hydropower ..... To deal with crippling power cuts that last two thirds of a day, the government has declared a national power crisis, and announced a plan to install a series of generators of up to 200 megawatts (MW). .... They will run on diesel ..... there were talks about importing the generation plants from China, which reportedly had many of them spare after hosting last year's Olympics. ..... we will have to get thermal plants to immediately address the load shedding, it's a compulsion ..... Having been hit hard by the power cuts, the private manufacturing sector is also stressing the need for businesses to install their own electricity generators. ..... Most of these will again be equipment run on diesel. .... With more than 6,000 rivers and rivulets gushing down the Himalayan foothills, snaking through the country's rugged topography, there is the potential to generate tens of thousands of megawatts. .... Major large hydroelectric project partnerships with India, agreed years ago, have never moved off the drawing board
Politics and economics of hydropower in Nepal
beginning in October to November and continuing until the monsoon arrives in June or July. By February the cuts are expected to intensify to 16 hours a day. ..... With a government eager to build large-scale schemes pitted against an active civil society keener on small-scale hydropower, progress has stalled. And a middle way is needed fast. ...... a thorough study to establish the country’s true hydro potential was badly needed. ..... the ministry’s goal to produce 10,000 megawatts in 10 years ....... a nation only just emerging from the shadow of a decade-long civil war and desperate for development and growth. Government policy therefore remains large-scale and export-oriented. ..... The early 1990s marked the World Bank’s infamous withdrawal from the 404-megawatt Arun III project located on the eponymous river in north-eastern Nepal. On the basis of a petition filed by members of the local community and activists, Nepal’s Supreme Court ruled that the World Bank and Nepalese government must provide information on the project to the public. There were several criticisms of the scheme, including the fear of a rise in the electricity tariff (the project’s estimated cost was US$5,400 [36,800 yuan] per kilowatt), the ecological impact of the plant on the rich biodiversity of the Arun Valley and the claim the project was too big for Nepal (the cost was equal to the country’s entire annual budget). ....... Then came the Mahakali Treaty between Nepal and India in the mid-1990s, which envisioned the 315-metre high, multipurpose Pancheshwar dam, with water-storage capacity of 12.3 billion cubic metres and a 6,480 megawatt power house. Nepal’s Supreme Court determined that the treaty required ratification by a two third majority of the parliament. After intense debate, the agreement was finally ratified on November 27, 1996, but deep disagreement split the main opposition party (the United Marxist Leninists). The treaty stipulated that the detailed project report (DPR) would be completed in six months, but more than 10 years after signing it, India and Nepal have failed to make significant progress. ......... India is drawn by water and irrigation, not electricity. “India imports power from Bhutan, its friendly neighbour; it has signed nuclear deal with the US; and has its own hydro capacity in north-east and other parts,” he says. “So, it would be incorrect to say that it is eyeing Nepal’s hydroelectricity.” Electrical engineer Bimal Gurung disagrees: “India, which is increasingly drawn into the climate-change debate, can’t use thermal plant,” he argues. “It would be cheaper to import from its geographically close neighbour Nepal than from remote Bhutan.” ...... the Bhutanese model, in which India builds the project and then imports the power, has drawn criticism from experts in Nepal. In an article published in Himal Southasian magazine in August, leading water-resource expert Dipak Gyawali termed the model, a “neo-colonial path to power”. ...... The 750-megawatt West Seti project has been through many ups and downs, culminating in the sudden withdrawal of its Chinese investor early last year. Initially conceived as a 77-megawatt run-of-the-river project, it was later optimised to a 195-metre, concrete face rockfill dam capable of producing 750 megawatts of electricity. But, if it goes ahead, it is feared the dam will displace the people of four districts. The reservoir will cover 25 square kilometres and have a volume of around 1.5 billion cubic metres. ...... there is money in Nepal but lack of security is hindering investment. ..... “Not all big dams are bad and not all small dams are good.” The solution may be promoting micro hydropower as well as investing in environmentally friendly and sustainable medium-sized and large-scale projects
Status Of Hydroelectricity In Nepal: Potential And Challenges
Hydro-electricity (hydel) is the most widely used form of renewable electricity in the world. .... Once a hydel project is completely constructed, it will produce no more direct waste and has very less output level of green house gas CO2 than other fossil fuel powered plants. Moreover unlike other renewable energy resources like solar and wind (intermittent energy sources), where sunlight and blowing wind is not available everytime, hydel can ensure 24/7/365 supply of energy as water always keeps on flowing. Therefore hydel is one of the best renewable energy sources. ...... Only three power plants generating over 10 GW are in operation in world currently, namely: Three Gorges Dam(22.5GW), Itaipu Dam(14GW), and Guri Dam(10.2GW)
Economy of Nepal
Progress has been made in exploiting Nepal's natural resources, tourism and hydroelectricity. With eight of the world's 10 highest mountain peaks, including Mount Everest at 8,848 m. In the early 1990s, one large public sector project and a number of private projects were planned; some have been completed. The most significant private sector financed hydroelectric projects currently in operation are the Khimti Khola (60 MW) and the Bhote Koshi Project (36 MW).The project is still undergoing and has dependancy on India to take the further steps .......... The environmental impact of Nepal's hydroelectric projects has been limited by the fact that most are "run-of-the-river" with only one storage project undertaken to date. The largest under active consideration is the private sector West Seti (750 MW) storage project which is dedicated to exports. Negotiations with India for a power purchase agreement have been underway for several years, but agreement on pricing and capital financing remains a problem. Currently demand for electricity is increasing at 8%-10% a year whereas Nepal's option to have agreement with India will make this fulfillment against demand
Presentation On Hydro Power Development In Nepal June 2011
The average annual precipitation is approximately 1700 mm (80% of which occurs during the monsoon season - June to September). The total annual average run-off from the nation's 600 perennial rivers flowing from high mountains is over 200 billion cu.m....... Nepal's storage potential is estimated at 88 billion cu.m ..... cooperation between the neighboring countries and going for Intra-national Grid is essential for the best use of the hydro resource for mutual benefit...... In coming decades, Nepal’s power sector is expected to boom tremendously. Hydropower Projects currently under construction, planned, and proposed should boost the country’s total generating capacity up to 22,000 MW, half of the country’s economical hydropower potential
FDI in Nepal’s Hydropower Sector: A Focus on the Product
To develop the hydropower sector, we need foreign direct investment (FDI) because Nepal’s own resources both in the public and private sector cannot meet the financial investment needed to do that. A large investment is required from foreign development agencies and private sector entrepreneurs. ...... Currently, Nepal is harnessing less than 1 percent of its potential hydropower energy and the country depends on bio-fuels, mainly wood, to meet its energy needs. It also spends a lot funds on petroleum products. This has had serious consequences for Nepal’s environment. ...... What is needed for Nepal to emerge itself as one of the richest countries in the region is to develop water and human resources simultaneously. ..... A macro-economic study has concluded that in order to eradicate absolute poverty in households, the country needs to register 8% economic growth rate. This will help to bring the level of percentage of population below poverty line to 10% and by 2027 there will be no household in absolute poverty. No other sector of economy other than hydropower is in a position to help achieve this goal. ...... the installed capacity of hydropower by ownership currently amounts to 561.231 MW (389.150 MW in public major projects, 69.34 % of total capacity, 133.113 MW in private power projects; 23.72% of total capacity, 200.00 MW in public-private joint ventures, 3.56 % of total capacity; and 189.68 MW in small hydropower projects, 3.38% of total capacity) ...... FDI may be in the form of loan, contract, or as a grant aid. ..... More than 500 hydropower projects of different capacity have been identified in the country. ..... The most recent private hydropower development projects are almost all proposed by Indian or Indian-Nepali joint investors. ..... The Indian companies are perhaps best suited to operate in Nepal due to their proximity, cultural and economic understanding of the Nepali situation, and relatively low cost of their professional and other costs. ..... the recent budget has enlisted an even more ambitious plan of generating 10, 000 MW in ten years. ..... Since 1992, the private sector development of the hydropower was seen as the best approach to utilize Nepal's most important economic potential while utilizing the private sector efficiency. ..... Although the previous few private power development were carried out by the US, Australian, Chinese and a few other companies, the most successful ventures have been the ones organized by the Nepali investors. ...... The policy should aid hydropower development, not personal development of politicians and bureaucrats. Too often, government officials and investors make surveys, licenses and taxes a means to their personal development. ...... We have bitter examples like Mukti Shree Pvt. Ltd. (an unknown company) which was awarded the license for the largest multipurpose project of Nepal (Karnali Chisapani 10,800 MW) and West Seti Storage Project, and also Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) for Upper Modi, Daram Khola, Langtangkhola and Madi. Their licenses have not been cancelled yet although they are unknown company. Such companies get involved in “Tender Bids” and get some money from other companies by taking out their tenders. Because of poor policy and corruption, there is no any incentive to revoke their licenses. However, recently, the government seems to be making some progress in penalizing such companies. ...... India’s demand for power would grow to 200,000 MW by 2018. If Nepal could fast-track projects to generate just 10,000 MW in ten years, consume 2,000 MW itself and export the rest to India, it could earn $2.7 billion a year. ...... in the fiscal year 2005/06, NRs 2.45 billions has been spent to import petroleum products. If the same amount of money were spent for developing hydropower, we could generate 29.9 MW hydropower electricity (for instance, in Chilme Hydropower Project, 1 KW production cost = $1550 = NRs.108500). ...... India and Bangladesh are two major markets for hydropower. ....... In recent years, three Nepali power projects like Chilime (20 MW) in Rasuwa, Piluwa (3 MW) in Sankhuwasabha and Jhimruk (12 MW) in Pyuthan proved that Nepal can now generate cheap electricity with locally-built and locally-financed hydropower schemes. ..... The donor-funded projects come with strings attached, they have to be designed and managed by international consultants and built by other contractors. Thus, a large amount of money goes back to the donors
Nepal clears China plan for $1.6 bln hydroelectric dam
The project, set to be completed in 2019, is expected to ease the crippling power shortage in Nepal whose economy is still emerging from a decade-long civil war - conflict that scared away investors and slowed infrastructure projects. ..... Two weeks ago, the Natural Resources and Means Committee of the parliament, asked for the project work to be halted due to allegations of irregularities in awarding the contract to the Chinese company without any international bidding...... The Chinese firm, which was to own a 75 percent stake in it while the state-owned Nepal Electricity Authority would take the rest, threatened to pull out after the parliamentary panel ordered an inquiry. ...... According to Lakshman Ghimire, a member of the committee, the Chinese firm should be given only 51 percent stakes instead of 75 percent and the remaining distributed among the public in the remote villages where the project is to be located. ..... Nepal's economy grew 3.5 percent in 2010-11, down from 4.8 percent in the previous year with the country facing 14 hours of daily power cuts during the dry season when its rivers flow slowly. ..... Aid-dependent Nepal, with 900 megawatt of electricity shortage, is one of the world's 10 poorest countries where tourism and hydropower are two key areas in which the government is trying to attract foreign investment
The neocolonial path to power
At first glance, Bhutan certainly appears to have achieved better hydropower development than its Himalayan neighbour. Three times smaller in landmass and with a population one-fiftieth of Nepal’s, the current generating capacity of Bhutan (at 1488 megawatts) is twice that of Nepal. The Punatsangchhu-I hydro plant, under construction with a 60 percent grant and 40 percent soft loan from India, will add another 1020 MW by 2016. Such cheap development capital means that Bhutanese consumers pay a mere INR 1.30 per unit of electricity, allowing them to cook food and heat homes with electricity. Currently, about 70 percent of the 123,000 households in Bhutan have access to electricity, and by 2013 the entire country is expected to be electrified. ...... Though Bhutan has twice the electricity-generation capacity of Nepal, around 80 percent of its electricity is exported to India, leaving only about 300 MW for consumption in Bhutan. Of this, only 80 MW is for domestic use, while the rest goes to southern Bhutan to be consumed by various Indian-owned industries, such as cement factories, lured here by the availability of cheap electricity. Subsidised electricity has led to booming demand, which grew by 19 percent from 2007 to 2008, increasing a further 27 percent in 2009 and 54 percent in 2010. ...... Nepal’s chronic power crisis precipitated by its unstable politics ..... India, despite its close friendship with Bhutan, cannot provide cheap power to its smaller neighbour due to its own 10,000 MW electricity shortage in the grid of North India, a fact not understood by today’s Nepali politicians. ...... the mirage of the Mahakali and political infighting ...... Exploring new power policies beyond the straitjacket imposed by hegemonic Indian plans, Bhutan’s hydrocrats have initiated medium-sized plants more suited to Bhutan’s economy. The 126 MW Dagachu and the 208 MW Nikhachu schemes are being developed using a public-private partnership model supported by the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism, which has come about in the wake of international concerns over global climate change. Recent changes in water policy require all power exporters to give 15 percent of their energy free to the Bhutanese grid as royalty. ....... The feasibility study of the 4000 MW Sunkhosh is now complete, but Bhutanese officials do not seem interested to push it. During a recent four-day stay in Thimphu, this writer heard a uniform refrain from many officials: We cannot be confrontationists like you Nepalis – but inundation projects are our last priority, to be done only if the pressure from India becomes too strong to resist. ...... Besides electricity, storage dams provide flood control, irrigation, fisheries, navigation and tourism, from which different economic actors benefit in varying degrees. As Nepal (and India) has not built any significant multipurpose project, its policymakers have no idea how these benefits can be allocated in an equitable manner, nor how the political, economic, social and environmental issues need sorting out. ...... at least 50 percent of the benefits of a storage dam are in areas outside the electricity sector, which must be accounted for. ..... the regulated water released in the dry season would lead to massive agricultural expansion in the plains, and flood-control benefits would result when the summer peak flood is lopped off to be stored in the reservoirs. As Bhutan does not have any Tarai plains, it is the downstream riparian areas that will reap the non-power benefits from reservoir projects in upstream Bhutan. New Delhi hopes to capture these valuable benefits from regulated water released from storage reservoirs in the dry season and, through its river-linking plan, to transport such waters to the dry western part of the country. ..... A rent-seeking, royalty-earning model might enrich governments, politicians and senior bureaucrats for some time, much like the Arab sheikhdoms, but it does nothing to develop national capacity – which is what development is, in the true sense. ..... Despite state indifference due to the Nepali hydrocracy’s infatuation with foreign aid, the survey, design, geo-technical engineering, contracting, construction and some equipment manufacture and maintenance are now done by Nepalis in small factories and consultancy services, for projects from a few hundred kilowatts to some 20 MW. The importance of such capacity is evident from the fact that Bhutanese power managers, during visits to the Bhutanese gomba (monastery) located in the Boudha area of Kathmandu, also take the opportunity to visit nearby factories to procure services for plant maintenance in Bhutan
Nepal India Cooperation on Hydropower (NICOH)
