Loadshedding is not a mystery to anyone living in the Kathmandu Valley. It's a daily reality, even during monsoon when the rains come pouring down. I have often wondered, with so many hydro-power projects established and in the works along the gravity-fueled rivers of the Himalaya, why does the Kathmandu populace suffer with 14 - 20 hours of power-outages per day in the dry winter/spring time?
Journalist Kunda Dixit sheds some light on this issue with these two articles in the Nepali times - White Gold (2007) and No Light at the End of the Tunnel (2011). Complications cited are lack of government, political instability, and poor implementation of energy development strategies. Nepal is often compared to Bhutan who sells 80% of their generated hydroelectricity to India - many see Nepal's rivers as a gold mine when considered from this angle. There seems to be a leak somewhere, however, as the fountains are hardly able to produce enough energy to support the existing consumption levels in the Kathmandu Valley alone. The numbers do not seem to add up.
Another mystery linked to this issue is the interaction Nepal has had for years with foreign aid funding hydro-electric projects in the name of development. Though now a few years old, this short paper by Kundan Pokharel Majagaiya sheds some light on Nepal's dependency but reticence to foreign aid.
Journalist Kunda Dixit sheds some light on this issue with these two articles in the Nepali times - White Gold (2007) and No Light at the End of the Tunnel (2011). Complications cited are lack of government, political instability, and poor implementation of energy development strategies. Nepal is often compared to Bhutan who sells 80% of their generated hydroelectricity to India - many see Nepal's rivers as a gold mine when considered from this angle. There seems to be a leak somewhere, however, as the fountains are hardly able to produce enough energy to support the existing consumption levels in the Kathmandu Valley alone. The numbers do not seem to add up.
Another mystery linked to this issue is the interaction Nepal has had for years with foreign aid funding hydro-electric projects in the name of development. Though now a few years old, this short paper by Kundan Pokharel Majagaiya sheds some light on Nepal's dependency but reticence to foreign aid.
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