My chargeable light starts to flicker; then I know it has been more than two hours since the inevitable blackout took course as pre scheduled. It would not be long before I would again be shrouded by the dismal darkness. Either the makers of that miserable gadget did not knew their product would find itself being drained to the last lumen or the makers of our nation could not fulfill their promises of a new Nepal. Who is to blame?
Ninety seven years have gone by since the start of construction of Pharping Hydroelectric Plant in 1911. The plant generated 500 Kilo Watts of electricity. This was the start of an era that has never had a golden period. Today, Nepal has an electric power of total installed capacity 609 Mega Watt (MW) but the demand is more than 800 MW. The consequence is load shedding which is currently 14 hours a day. The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) changes the load shedding schedule and duration time and again citing different reasons. People plan their days according to load shedding schedule. They sleep and wake up accordingly. Businesses and office-goers, professionals try to adjust their work and daily routine in harmony with the load-shedding schedule.
Extended duration of power cuts has affected business the most. The electrical tempos that are in operation in the Kathmandu Valley have already launched protests against the NEA for increasing the duration of load shedding. The power supply is not adequate for recharging their batteries, and because of this their business worth billions is virtually at the point of closure. The cyber cafes are also facing the brunt. Even the invertors did not prove to be saviors for them because it becomes difficult to charge the invertors fully when one has the luxury of just four hours of electricity at a time.
The ever widening gap between demand and supply has forced government to declare "energy crisis" in the country. Government officers say that the declaration of “energy crisis will speed up the NEA’s work to produce more electricity for sustained solution. Fearing of 18 hours power-cut in future, the government had proposed to set up diesel run thermal power plant which has been criticized by experts nationwide. According to experts the low water-level in reservoir during dry season and dismantled Koshi Hydropower Transmission Line is the key cause of additional power cut in Nepal. Though this alone is not the cause of electricity crisis in the country, rather it is the consequence of lack of maintenance of existing power plants, inability to establish new power plants as per demand and also electricity leakage. The NEA’s effort to extend the supply of electricity to remote villages is cited as another reason behind the ever increasing blackouts.
Paradoxical it may sound but the truth is we live in a country that is second richest in the world in terms of water resources. The potential for generating hydro electricity is enormous. Experts say the economic potential is 43,000 mega watts and yet sixty percent of the population still does not have access to electricity. A decade long civil war and political instability didn’t help the cause either.
Hydro electricity for now seems to be the ultimate solution to the existing energy crisis. It doesn’t come without challenges though. A report by John C. Garcia states that adverse impacts related to hydropower development can be serious and significant, leading to increased poverty, social dislocation, losses in fishery resources and declines in biodiversity among a host of other associated impacts. The report further states that Run of the-river projects with high head and small reservoirs have fewer adverse environmental impacts on the social, biological and physical environments than large reservoirs in lower elevations that can require the dislocation of people and loss of productive lands and major ecological changes. However, in some cases, larger reservoirs can provide additional benefits such as flood-control, irrigation, aquaculture and recreation/tourism opportunities.
There are also serious engineering, social, environmental, fiscal and political challenges. Even under the best of circumstances, delays and cost overruns are to be expected when dealing with large infrastructure projects. This has been exemplified by high-profile projects in the US and Europe, including Boston’s ‘Big Dig’ tunnel, the San Francisco Bay Bridge Project and the English Channel Project. The report further states that in Nepal maximizing efficiency and meeting schedules is complicated by having to transport large equipment through other countries. Also, the political instability, security, remote project locations, poor roads and infrastructure, monsoon, unstable steep slopes and high sediment loads are major challenges. In addition, local communities in various project areas have learned that they can stop work on projects and thereby have their needs or desires met.
Hydropower development will require massive investments in Nepal. According to a presentation made by Ram Manohar Shrestha a minimum investment of USD 6,000 million is required to produce 5,000 Mega Watts of electricity. Production of such huge amounts of electricity will open up great trade opportunities with India. Even if India goes nuclear, it would not be sufficient to fulfill its increasing energy demand. Nepal could benefit from this by exporting electricity to India. This would require the formulation of long-term national strategies for export oriented Hydro Power development and the development of a genuine mutually beneficial partnership with India.
As the blame game continues amongst the politicians we are compelled to live our lives guided by the NEA’s power cut schedule. In the near future the government might promote Braille system throughout the country for it requires only fingers when vision is obscured by darkness. The European countries with low population growth rate may start power cuts of their own hoping for a baby boom year. Or we may find ourselves in a new Nepal where hydro electricity is not only a potential but a reality and load shedding a myth.
John C. Garcia is a Systems Ecologist and Principal of Garcia and Associates. Mr. Garcia has consulted on environmental aspects related to hydropower development in Nepal since the 1980s.
Ram Manohar Shrestha is a professor of energy economics in Asian Institution of Technology, Thailand.
Ninety seven years have gone by since the start of construction of Pharping Hydroelectric Plant in 1911. The plant generated 500 Kilo Watts of electricity. This was the start of an era that has never had a golden period. Today, Nepal has an electric power of total installed capacity 609 Mega Watt (MW) but the demand is more than 800 MW. The consequence is load shedding which is currently 14 hours a day. The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) changes the load shedding schedule and duration time and again citing different reasons. People plan their days according to load shedding schedule. They sleep and wake up accordingly. Businesses and office-goers, professionals try to adjust their work and daily routine in harmony with the load-shedding schedule.
Extended duration of power cuts has affected business the most. The electrical tempos that are in operation in the Kathmandu Valley have already launched protests against the NEA for increasing the duration of load shedding. The power supply is not adequate for recharging their batteries, and because of this their business worth billions is virtually at the point of closure. The cyber cafes are also facing the brunt. Even the invertors did not prove to be saviors for them because it becomes difficult to charge the invertors fully when one has the luxury of just four hours of electricity at a time.
The ever widening gap between demand and supply has forced government to declare "energy crisis" in the country. Government officers say that the declaration of “energy crisis will speed up the NEA’s work to produce more electricity for sustained solution. Fearing of 18 hours power-cut in future, the government had proposed to set up diesel run thermal power plant which has been criticized by experts nationwide. According to experts the low water-level in reservoir during dry season and dismantled Koshi Hydropower Transmission Line is the key cause of additional power cut in Nepal. Though this alone is not the cause of electricity crisis in the country, rather it is the consequence of lack of maintenance of existing power plants, inability to establish new power plants as per demand and also electricity leakage. The NEA’s effort to extend the supply of electricity to remote villages is cited as another reason behind the ever increasing blackouts.
Paradoxical it may sound but the truth is we live in a country that is second richest in the world in terms of water resources. The potential for generating hydro electricity is enormous. Experts say the economic potential is 43,000 mega watts and yet sixty percent of the population still does not have access to electricity. A decade long civil war and political instability didn’t help the cause either.
Hydro electricity for now seems to be the ultimate solution to the existing energy crisis. It doesn’t come without challenges though. A report by John C. Garcia states that adverse impacts related to hydropower development can be serious and significant, leading to increased poverty, social dislocation, losses in fishery resources and declines in biodiversity among a host of other associated impacts. The report further states that Run of the-river projects with high head and small reservoirs have fewer adverse environmental impacts on the social, biological and physical environments than large reservoirs in lower elevations that can require the dislocation of people and loss of productive lands and major ecological changes. However, in some cases, larger reservoirs can provide additional benefits such as flood-control, irrigation, aquaculture and recreation/tourism opportunities.
There are also serious engineering, social, environmental, fiscal and political challenges. Even under the best of circumstances, delays and cost overruns are to be expected when dealing with large infrastructure projects. This has been exemplified by high-profile projects in the US and Europe, including Boston’s ‘Big Dig’ tunnel, the San Francisco Bay Bridge Project and the English Channel Project. The report further states that in Nepal maximizing efficiency and meeting schedules is complicated by having to transport large equipment through other countries. Also, the political instability, security, remote project locations, poor roads and infrastructure, monsoon, unstable steep slopes and high sediment loads are major challenges. In addition, local communities in various project areas have learned that they can stop work on projects and thereby have their needs or desires met.
Hydropower development will require massive investments in Nepal. According to a presentation made by Ram Manohar Shrestha a minimum investment of USD 6,000 million is required to produce 5,000 Mega Watts of electricity. Production of such huge amounts of electricity will open up great trade opportunities with India. Even if India goes nuclear, it would not be sufficient to fulfill its increasing energy demand. Nepal could benefit from this by exporting electricity to India. This would require the formulation of long-term national strategies for export oriented Hydro Power development and the development of a genuine mutually beneficial partnership with India.
As the blame game continues amongst the politicians we are compelled to live our lives guided by the NEA’s power cut schedule. In the near future the government might promote Braille system throughout the country for it requires only fingers when vision is obscured by darkness. The European countries with low population growth rate may start power cuts of their own hoping for a baby boom year. Or we may find ourselves in a new Nepal where hydro electricity is not only a potential but a reality and load shedding a myth.
John C. Garcia is a Systems Ecologist and Principal of Garcia and Associates. Mr. Garcia has consulted on environmental aspects related to hydropower development in Nepal since the 1980s.
Ram Manohar Shrestha is a professor of energy economics in Asian Institution of Technology, Thailand.
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