Asia Times: Their rivers' energy exported, Bhutanese look to the sun


	March 16, 2001	atimes.com

India/Pakistan

Their rivers' energy exported, Bhutanese look to the sun
By Siok Sian Pek

THIMPHU, Bhutan - The nomadic, Brokpa yak herdsmen, inhabiting a remote area of the small kingdom of Bhutan in the eastern Himalayas, were at first suspicious of the solar energy panels when these were set up six years ago.

The Brokpa people live in an area that is reached after driving three days east of the capital city Thimphu and then walking another three days over difficult mountain terrain.

A large proportion of Bhutan's 650,000 people live in habitations that can be more than a day's walk across hills, miles away from the nearest road. Not surprisingly, only 30 percent of the population lives in homes with electricity. However, more and more Bhutanese living in remote areas are now lighting up their houses using solar energy. The Bropka community now makes yak cheese and butter, working under solar lights in their homes at night.

Students in a school in Pemagatshe, a district about four days journey from the capital, wrote the national newspaper Kuensel that they could pass their examinations because solar electricity allowed them to study longer hours after dark. Buddhist monks living in a monastery in Gasa Dzong, at the foot of a Himalayan glacier in the north of the country, can now read ancient scriptures at night thanks to solar power. The monastery now has a computer, powered by solar electricity.

Ironically, Bhutanese are starved of electricity even as the country is exporting power. Bhutan is tapping its fast-flowing mountain rivers to produce four times more hydroelectricity than it can use. The surplus power is sold to southern neighbor India, which has helped finance most hydroelectricity schemes in Bhutan. The Bhutanese government hopes to generate 90 percent of its annual revenues from power sales by the year 2010. "The power sector can provide an answer to our goal of self-reliance and sustainable development," says Lyonpo Yeshey Zimba, the head of the Bhutanese government.

According to government estimates, Bhutan has the potential to generate about 30,000 MW of electricity from its rivers. The country's first major hydroelectricity scheme was the 336 MW Chukha scheme commissioned in t1988. The 60 MW Kurichu project in eastern Bhutan is scheduled to start production next year, while the giant Tala hydroelectricity scheme in the south, will start producing 1,020 MW in two years time. The 22 MW Basochu project in the west of the country is also nearing completion.

However, Bhutanese power officials say that the country faces a disadvantage in power sales because it cannot be sold beyond India, making it easier for New Delhi to dictate the price. "The risk is that, being landlocked, we are forced to put all our eggs in one basket. It is difficult to sell power beyond India," says an official.

Bhutan's abundant hydroelectricity is also of little use to most Bhutanese. The rugged mountain terrain makes power transmission highly expensive. The average cost of lighting up a Bhutanese house is estimated at about 100,000 nu (about US$2,100). It is difficult to cover the cost because electricity is highly subsidized, with users paying less than one nu per unit, which costs three to seven times as much to produce and distribute to urban and rural consumers.

Most of the power is consumed in the two largest urban centers, Thimphu and the southern border town of Phuentsholing, which are home to about one tenth of the Bhutanese population.

Bhutanese power officials are quick to point out that hydropower projects are in keeping with the country's strong commitment to environmental conservation. Most of the projects are run-of-the- river schemes where the water is not dammed up in a reservoir.

Bhutan is known for its thick forests, with nearly three fourths of the country under green cover.

However, this is under threat from growing firewood consumption in the mainly rural nation. A survey by the environmental group, Royal Society for the Protection of Nature, found that on average, every Bhutanese consumes some 2.4 cubic meters of wood every year. That gives Bhutan, where 90 percent of home fuel needs are met by firewood, the world's highest per capita wood use.

Until it finds cheaper ways of taking hydroelectricity to the distant areas of the kingdom, Bhutan is relying on environment- friendly, alternative energy sources like solar and small-scale water power schemes. There are now 13 mini-hydroelectricity projects, which produce between 50 to 200 KW, and serve local communities.

(Inter Press Service)