Nepal’s hydropower projects face destruction risk after deadly floods

Nepal’s hydropower sector has suffered extensive damage after floods swept through several districts, threatening projects that supply electricity to communities across the country. Workers have been clearing thick mud from a flooded power station in central Nepal in an effort to restore electricity to more than 20,000 residents.

The floods, which also affected China, destroyed or damaged facilities and knocked out roughly 10% of Nepal’s generating capacity. At the 111-megawatt Rasuwagadhi Hydroelectric Project, water from the overflowing Bhotekoshi River flooded the site and cut communications. Ninety-three workers remain unaccounted for inside a tunnel at the project, which cost 18.69 billion rupees (RM487 million) and was completed last year.

Hydropower projects operating or under construction in Rasuwa, Nuwakot and Dhading were reported destroyed or partly damaged. The Nepal Independent Power Producers’ Association said hundreds of workers from 12 hydropower projects were still missing. Officials said some may have taken shelter in tunnels but became trapped and are awaiting rescue.

“

extraordinary

The floods killed more than 1,000 people and left almost 4,500 missing, while roads, bridges, schools and hospitals were also destroyed. The Nepalese government warned that rebuilding could cost billions of dollars.

Prime Minister Balendra Shah described the disaster along the Himalayan region as extraordinary and linked it to climate change. He said the flooding of the Bhote Koshi River in Rasuwa was not an ordinary event, but one of the region’s major disasters, triggered by avalanches and collapsing ice in the Himalayas.

Jakob Steiner, a geoscientist at the University of Graz in Austria, said tunnels built to provide access to hydropower infrastructure and divert water can be large enough for trucks to pass through. Smaller floods can sometimes be managed by diverting water away from vulnerable infrastructure, he said, but physical defenses may not withstand a disaster of this scale. In such circumstances, early-warning systems offer the most important protection for saving lives.

“

The tunnel was built to provide access to hydropower infrastructure and divert water.