Nepal rich in hydropower

Nepal's most possessed natural resource is water. A land-locked country it may be, but the country is blessed by snow-capped mountains which feed Nepal land. Rivers are not only for rafters but also for businessmen. More than 80% of Nepal's electricity is generated by rivers. Snow-capped Himalayas are the main sources of Nepali rivers. Nepal has altitude ranging from 60 meter to all the way upto 8848 meters (Mt everest), the highest altitude of the earth. Some of the fastest running rivers in the world are located here.

There are three major rivers in Nepal namely Kosi River, Gandaki River and Karnali River which lie across east to west running from north to south. Surroundings of most rivers are in their natural settings. Nepali rivers are paradise to River Rafters who just can't have enough of angry and mad rivers. Need we mention Himalayan Water? It's all here in this beautiful country. No matter how many rivers you have rafted here, there is always a river waiting to be explored.Many of Nepal's rivers such as the Karnali, Seti, and Gandaki are fueled by the Himalayas. These rivers rush through 8848m altitude from sea level to 60m. Extreme elevation of the land helps these rivers fly! And they carry water to generate more than 90,000 mW of electricity. Currently Nepal produces less than 2% of it's capacity. So why hasn't anything been done to get closer to 98% of this open business ?
Many small sized hydro power plants are being currently setup. Lack of infrastructure such as roads, government policy, war and conflict in the region has slowed down many projects.

In Nepal, there are more plans than actions. There are plans to elevate poverty, such plans go through numbers like these.. Plan 1 to Plan 20. There are also plans to setup hydro-power projects to make nepal sufficient of electricity and also earn foreign revenue by selling it. Hydro power Plans have similar numbers like Plan 1 and Plan 2 and so on. They are as boring as the talks of political leaders. Everybody loves pointing their fingers at the other Government, and Every Government operates for about an year before it is replaced by another. When the new Government comes to office, they argue why plan-numbers were not long, so they add Plan 21 through Plan 9999 before saying good bye! In last 10 years alone, Nepal had more than 10 different governments, about one new government per year.

In case you were interested, there are hydro-power plans for upto year 2030, by which they believe Nepal will produce enough electricity for the entire country as well as start making some money by selling it!



Many small to medium sized, some privately owned hydropower plants are being setup in many part of the country, proving to all foreign investors that Nepal's rivers are good for business. Read about Nepal's War and how Nepal is unfolding, some argue is it really ? Also visit blogs by Nepalese who have good coverage on what Nepali Government really is. See Web Directory > Nepali Blogs

Also check out this nice PDF File which has Nepal Power Development Map, lot of small to large scale hydro power projects, some active and some just sleeping ones