Hydropower in Nepal

[prashamk]

Nepal in in midst of economical as well as political turmoil... expecting something like this from it would be .... think for yourself!

[Karl]

I see that some plans of this nature have recently been under discussion...

> India to Set Up Nepal Power Projects, Buy Electricity - Business - redOrbit

The Indian government has announced that it is ready to generate 10,000 MW of hydroelectricity in Nepal in 10 years and then buy it. An Indian company has said that the ambitious plan of hydropower development may come true if the government in Nepal acted with political commitment. It said that the power will be used to meet the domestic demand of Nepal and the surplus will be purchased.

Chairman and Managing Director of the Power Trading Corporation India Limited [PTCIL], an Indian government undertaking, Tantra Nath Thakur, expressed this view at a press conference on the eve of the Power Summit 2008 beginning in Kathmandu on Tuesday. It is the largest Indian company investing in the energy and power development sector. In 10 years, the demand for electricity in India will rise to 350,000 megawatts. We can generate power in Nepal economically and technically in the way Nepal wants and there is no dearth of market, he said. High power demand in India creates market opportunities for the neighbouring countries like Nepal and Bhutan, Thakur said. India has been currently importing 1,400 MW of power from Bhutan. The projects have been constructed under 60 per cent grants and 40 per cent loans by the Bhutan government.

[screener]

I think this would be a really sorry program if it is allowed to proceed. India is capable of meeting its own needs for starters, does not need to take advantage of its poor neighbours, and would cause serious hardship to the Nepalese. By the time there is enough water in a river to make this kind of mega dam proposal financially viable, ( I don't think it would ever be economically viable), you are flooding out the most productive land there is in a mountainous state. The best wildlife habitat, the best human habitat, the best agricultural, forestry, tourism, and recreation potential.

[Karl]

Originally Posted by screener

I think this would be a really sorry program if it is allowed to proceed. India is capable of meeting its own needs for starters, does not need to take advantage of its poor neighbours, and would cause serious hardship to the Nepalese.

They are capable of doing so, but how? Using coal. There has been quite a bit of talk of them using solar, wind and biomass, but when and at what scale will that ever be viable? The point is that Asia will continue to have a rapidly increasing energy demand and it will need to come from somewhere... Hydropower is the probably the only source of energy generation/conversion that is "clean" and renewable at a large scale.

From India to Set Up Nepal Power Projects, Buy Electricity - Business - redOrbit

We can generate power in Nepal economically and technically in the way Nepal wants and there is no dearth of market, he said.

Like most people on this forum, I am in no position to say what the people of Nepal "want" in this regard, but if the opinion of the person who started this thread is anything to go by, it would seem so...

The decision is that of Nepal and India... The land and environment belong to them.

The environmental issues associated with these projects in other countries is possible, but it all depends on how the project is designed and implemented. They are in a position to learn from the mistakes of other countries (including India) regarding this type of development. (Gorkhapatra)

In any case...India, Germans sign urban development pact | Sindh Today

‘Urban India is likely to be the engine of this growth. The contribution of urban India to the GDP is likely to be around 75-80 per cent. It is thus essential for cities to be able to support this kind of growth,’ he said... ‘I am delighted to note that we have reached a significant milestone in Indo-German technical cooperation in the field of urban development’.

[screener]

I wouldn't say that coal would be an option, but the countries should look at all the costs associated with major Hydro-electric proposals before making a decision. Countries should also look at the alternatives with the same fine toothed comb before committing their resources and their futures to any one option. Preferrably a wide variety of options.

This isn't an easy or a given thing. I don't know of any mega dam that has gone through an analysis of the costs associated with resource losses, or environmental degradation in anything like a complete manner. I would be happy to learn that I am wrong.

India has tidal, wave, ocean thermal, geothermal, solar, wind, conservation, biomass, the trouble is as mentioned in the second part of your post. Urban India is not going to be the engine of growth, cheap energy derived from big Hydro power projects in somebody elses environment will be the engine of growth. The consumerism rampant in developed countries will inflict itself on India. The support they give to paying back the interest on money borrowed will constitute the benefit side of the benefit/cost analysis and will look good because those costs won't get included.