Nepal floods halt contentious hydropower exports to Bangladesh via India

Monsoon rains have routinely given Nepal a surge of hydropower, creating a surplus. Some of that surplus was used to supplement downstream neighbour Bangladesh’s fossil-fuel-dependent electricity supply.

On August 2, however, Nepal’s hydropower system was damaged extensively. Flash floods swept through the Bhotekoshi and Trishuli river systems, killing at least 1,250 people as of 3 September. The floods also damaged 15 hydropower plants and critical transmission infrastructure, wiping out over 750 MW of electricity generation, reported Time. Nearly 900 hydropower workers are missing.

The disaster has now disrupted Nepal’s electricity exports, with supplies to Bangladesh halted, authorities in Dhaka and Kathmandu confirmed to Dialogue Earth.

On September 3, Shaligram Bhandari, a spokesperson for Nepal’s Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, told Dialogue Earth that floods damaged the 22 megawatt Chilime and 24 MW Trishuli hydropower projects, which have since stopped generating electricity. The power they produced had been approved for export to Bangladesh. Nepal halted all power exports, Reuters reported several days earlier.

Amid the disaster, the ministry had yet to explore alternatives, Bhandari said. Nepal’s growing role as a hydropower exporter must be viewed together with these vulnerabilities.

Complicating its role as an exporter is its lack of a shared border with Bangladesh. Electricity trade between them has passed through India’s transmission network, which comes with some...

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