Bhutan's hydropower potential
Bhutan is a small, mountainous nation in the Himalayas with significant hydropower potential, estimated at around 40,000 megawatts. Traditionally reliant on fuelwood for energy—making it the highest per capita user of fuelwood globally—Bhutan has made strides in shifting towards more sustainable energy sources, primarily through hydroelectricity. This transition has not only helped to decrease fuelwood consumption but has also become a vital source of foreign revenue through electricity exports to India.
Despite its ambitious goals, such as achieving 10,000 megawatts of hydroelectric capacity by 2020, Bhutan faced challenges and produced only 2,326 megawatts by 2023. The development of hydropower initiatives has raised concerns regarding environmental impact, transparency, and the displacement of local communities. However, Bhutan’s commitment to maintaining a high level of forest cover and its unique approach to development, encapsulated in the concept of Gross National Happiness, reflects an intention to balance economic progress with cultural and environmental preservation. As Bhutan explores additional energy avenues, such as wind and biogas, its hydropower projects remain central to its energy governance and sustainability goals.
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Bhutan's hydropower potential
Official Name: Kingdom of Bhutan.
Summary: Bhutan, which for much of its history has depended on fuelwood for most of its energy needs, was developing its hydropower potential in the twenty-first century.
Bhutan is a small country nestled in the Himalayas between India and China. Until recently, fuelwood was the primary source of domestic energy in the country, and Bhutan was considered the highest per capita fuelwood-consuming country in the world. Recent advancements, especially in hydroelectricity, have shifted this dependence on fuelwood toward more sustainable energy sources. Hydroelectricity also accounts for Bhutan’s primary source of foreign dollars, primarily through the sale of electricity to India.
Bhutan—never colonized and largely isolationist until the 1960s—entered into modern energy development somewhat later than most other countries. Because the country is entirely mountainous, creating and extending an electricity grid to rural areas has proven to be a major obstacle in Bhutan’s development. However, this has helped the country maintain a high level of forest cover, as large-scale logging has not occurred. The constitution (approved in 2008) promised to maintain 60 percent of total land cover as forest indefinitely, a goal that was still in sight in 2022 when the amount of forest cover was estimated at just under 70 percent. The constitution does not define forest or determine quality parameters, so the goal of 60 percent forest cover does not seem very difficult to maintain.
The Royal Government of Bhutan promised to achieve 100 percent electrification by the end of 2013, but took three years longer to reach that goal in 2016. The country achieved this goal, primarily through its hydropower projects and by providing solar panels to homes that are too remote to extend the grid cost-effectively. Bhutan is currently investigating the viability of wind power in the country, but thus far no significant energy comes from wind. Some experimental biogas digester projects have been started, but their implementation has been relatively low.
Energy Governance
Internationally, Bhutan is perhaps most famous for its creation of the concept of gross national happiness (GNH), an alternative measure of development that takes into account people’s well-being rather than simple monetary exchange. GNH has four main pillars: sustainable economic development, good governance, preservation of culture, and preservation of the natural environment. Bhutan has tried to orient its development toward these four interrelated pillars, and its focus on hydropower is seen as a way both to improve economic development and to preserve the natural environment. Recent studies have shown that hydropower and the related electrification of the country have led to lower fuelwood consumption.
Bhutan’s energy governance structure is administered primarily through the Ministry of Trade and Industries. Within this ministry, the Department of Energy and the Bhutan Electricity Authority have primary interaction with the electricity sector, while the Department of Trade manages the petroleum sector (all petroleum comes through India). The coal and mining sectors are controlled by the Department of Geology and Mines, but coal mining is not very extensive, and Bhutan does not have large coal deposits. The Bhutan Power Corporation and Druk Green Power Corporation Limited are semiprivate corporations that manage electricity distribution and operate hydroelectric projects, respectively. Profits from these corporations are used to finance government operations. The National Environment Commission is in charge of monitoring all environmental impacts of energy projects and approving environmental assessments.
Hydroelectricity
Bhutan’s mountainous terrain has given it several fast-flowing rivers that are ideal for hydroelectricity development. There are four main river systems in Bhutan, and studies have estimated its hydroelectricity potential at around 40,000 megawatts. In recent years, Bhutan, in conjunction with India, has aggressively pursued expanding this renewable resource, primarily for export to India.
In 2011, the government began pursuing a goal of expanding its hydroelectric projects to reach a goal of 10,000 megawatts by 2020. However, the nation fell far short of that goal, producing just 2,326 megawatts by 2023.
Bhutan's hydropower efforts have been plagued by concerns about lack of transparency, cost inflation, environmental damage, and displacement of people living near dam sites. The Indian think tank the Vasudha Foundation released a report in 2016 that was strongly critical of the sector's financial and ecological issues. However, work on the dams continued without significant changes.
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