Energy Crisis in Nepal

"Not sure what is going on in Nepal. Just left and there were epci lines
for petrol all over the place. 8 hours a day of no electricity.Makes for very interesting travel. People are wonderful. Don't be scared!"

Nepal's electricity

Nepal does have one resource in abundance: water. And its neighbours are looking to exploit that resource to power their economies with hydroelectricty. Meanwhile Nepal is left suffering an energy crisis and regular blackouts. But China and India hold sway over Nepal... politically and economically. And as Matt McClure reports Nepal's new government may end up serving its neighbours' interests ahead of its own.

36 hrs power cut/ week

Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) announced 36 hours of power cut each week from today. NEA had increased the load shedding hours from six hours to fifteen hours a week. ANA Jan 10 08

Hydro power and Nepal

Interview with Indian ambessador.

Run time:9min 45 sec

Chernobyl Uncencensored

Runtime: 1 hr 33 min


I still remember the unfortunate event of the '86. I remember myself worried about what will happen to me and my younger brother because someone told me the milk-bar ice cream that we just had used milk from Chernobyl and we have been RADIOACTIVATED. That was an international terror and I can somewhat hardly imagine what Ukraine and its neighboring countries went through.

Hydro Power

Instead of using steam to drive generator turbines, a hydro plant uses the force of falling or flowing water.
Hydro power has been used to make electricity in the Midwest since the early 1900s, with many facilities built by the Works Progress Administration in the 1930s.
There are two types of hydroelectric power plants:

• A high-head plant takes advantage of the force of falling water. Large-scale facilities like the Hoover Dam and Grand Coulee Dam are examples of high-head hydro plants. Dams are built along major rivers to create reservoirs; the utility controls the flow of water through the dam in response to the demand for electricity.
• A run of the river plant, like those found in the Midwest, relies on the flow of the river to spin the turbines. These plants produce a much smaller amount of electricity.
  The benefits of hydro power are many: no hazardous emissions or solid waste, no fuel costs and it's entirely sustainable. Hydro plants are reliable, low maintenance and provide flood control.
  

Drawbacks to hydro power :

• Environmental groups have pointed out the drawbacks to hydroelectric power, especially from large-scale dams and reservoirs. The most dramatic is the impact on wildlife - the reservoirs can alter water temperature and prevent the migration of fish.
  
• While "run of the river" hydro plants have a much smaller environmental impact, their use is constrained by the lack of control. The electricity produced at these plants cannot be increased or decreased according to demand, and the flow of the river is dependent on the area's precipitation.
  
• Many of the nation's hydroelectric plants are aging, and flooding in recent years has irreparably damaged several in the Midwest. The initial costs of building or replacing a hydro plant are high, and usually not cost-effective in the Midwest, so most utilities are investing in other forms of renewable energy.

Everyday in Nepal.

Everyday at a different, unknown time the electricity throughout all of Nepal simply blacks out. Most of Nepal’s energy (maybe all) comes from hydroelectric power, and during the dry season, October through May, there is neither enough dams nor water to power the country. Everyone knows of this as load shedding, which does exactly that: sheds the load on Nepal’s electrical grid. For a country trying to develop itself, losing power 3-4 hours a day (sometimes more) certainly does not help their industry or productivity in any way. Newspapers talk of many solutions, from nuclear energy to more dams, but all solutions require excessive amounts of money that Nepali’s do not have. Above, Sita cooks in the dark. Obviously, unlit cooking happens everywhere, but in a major metropolitan area, in a middle class home? Yea, weird.
Coupled with an absence of electricity, petrol has become a much sought after commodity. The past weeks have seen indefinite strikes in an area known as the Terai, mainly the southern half of Nepal. These strikes are linked to one of Nepal’s many ethnic groups, the Madeshi, feeling left out of the political process. In fact, they feel so underrepresented in the fledgling political sphere, they want their own country. These strikes, or “Bandahs” in Nepali, are situated along the Nepal-Indian border where a majority of Nepal’s imports, including petrol, cross into the country. As a result, and at least in Kathmandu (I haven’t been or seen it anywhere else), long lines form at the limited number of petrol pumps around the city.
Inextricably linked to the border stand-offs, the supply of kerosene, used for cooking and the heating of people homes, has not escaped the bamboozling turbulence. More long lines, more waiting, and as can always be predicted: the distributor runs out. People walked home with empty jugs, just as they sometimes walk away without fuel in their gas tank. What amazes me is these people simply shrug their shoulders and walk away. (notice they have coca-cola and an ipod, but still empty jugs)
My first 3 days in Kathmandu there was another bandah in the city proper. Tires were burned in the streets, people shouted passionately, and all businesses and traffic were shut down. Unfortunately, I was very green and didn’t have the courage to take any pictures. This bandah was pointed at the government and their announcement to raise fuel prices. After 3 days of screwball shenanigans (the tires smelled terrible, some busses were destroyed with bricks), the government reneged the original price hike, much to the people’s happiness. Following the analysis of these events, I’ve concluded absolutely nothing. Economically speaking, prices for fuel go up. Simple. The people of Nepal are very poor. Complicated. Looking at things socially complicates it even further. No fuel for heat, for cooking, or for day-to-day business, not only exasperates poverty, it creates poverty.
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