Deadly floods in Nepal’s Bagmati province last week have damaged about 431 megawatts of electricity capacity, equivalent to 10% of the country’s total generation capacity, raising concerns over its ambitious hydropower expansion plans.
Nepal’s energy ministry said 11 hydropower projects were affected, with nearly 900 people reported missing in two districts as flash floods and mudslides swept through project sites.
The disaster has forced Nepal to suspend electricity exports and turn to India for power to meet domestic demand in the coming months, according to ministry spokesperson Mohan Kumar Shakya.
Hydropower supplies almost all of Nepal’s electricity and has become an increasingly important source of export revenue, with exports accounting for nearly a tenth of the country’s annual exports in the year to July.
Nepal plans to more than triple its hydropower capacity over the next decade, with companies including Adani Group, NHPC and GMR backing projects aimed largely at supplying India’s coal-dependent power grid.
However, environmental experts warn that hydropower projects built in flood-prone valleys and vulnerable riverbeds face growing risks as climate change intensifies extreme weather in the Himalayas.
Experts said the scale of the floods exceeded conventional warning systems and highlighted the need to reassess how infrastructure is designed and located in Nepal’s mountainous regions.
Climate specialists also warned that retreating glaciers, changing snowlines and shifting rainfall patterns are making historical weather data less reliable for assessing risks to hydropower investments.
Despite the risks, Nepal has limited alternatives because it lacks significant coal and gas-fired generation and has relatively limited potential for large-scale wind and solar power.
The floods have therefore exposed a key challenge for Nepal: balancing its reliance on hydropower for electricity, economic growth and exports with the increasing climate risks facing the rivers on which that expansion depends.