His Majesty's 114th National Day Speech: Interpretation I bbb

Of the many wise and meaningful reminders that His Majesty had pointed out during His 114th National Day speech, the subject of hydropower will be one that I am inclined to devote two articles. The reason: for the first time, there is official admission that hydropower is soon destined for the burial grounds. The following is the caution delivered by His Majesty in his 30th Sentence:

Sentence 30th: With rapid advancements in harnessing nuclear, hydrogen, fusion, solar, thermal and wind energy, hydropower may soon lose its competitive edge.

Water - source of future conflicts

There finally appears to be a sense that hydropower is now old hat. But the reality is that it can still generate revenue – long after our hydropower dreams have ground to a screeching halt. How? The following are my thoughts:

On 9th February, 2016, I had listed my 8 New Year Wishes. The 5th read as follows:

WISH V

The most shameful thing about a country that projects itself as a net exporter of hydroelectricity is the fact that we have to import power during the winter months at a price higher than that at which we export during the summer months. This is a most shameful and pathetic situation!

Therefore, my Vth wish is to build dams over the Wangchhu and the Punatsangchhu, so that we can harness the excess water available during the monsoons, caused by snow melt and rain water which otherwise go on to flood the plains of India. Such storage reservoirs will augment the drastic fall in water availability during winter months, thereby making it possible for our generators in the power plants to work at full capacity to generate electricity, even during the winter months. This will eliminate the need for import of expensive electricity during the lean season.

On the 27th of last month, I repeated my wish, as follows:

The planners and lawmakers should now stop talking of new hydropower projects. In fact they should stop talking about hydropower projects entirely.

Instead, let them talk about constructing a water storage reservoir on the Wangchhu – to augment water supply to the two existing projects downstream - during the winter months. Bring to focus the import bill of electricity during the winter months.

I have, to date, written 69 hydropower related articles. For those of you who are interested, the articles are grouped under the following:

https://yesheydorji.blogspot.com/search/label/Hydroelectric%20Projects

There are facts and figures in those articles that may surprise you.

ADDENDUM:

I forgot to mention why a staunch environmentalist like myself is now urging the construction of reservoir dams across the Wangchhu and Punatsangchhu basins. The reason is that these two basins' environmental integrity has already been compromised - due to the hydropower projects that have already happened on the river basins - it cannot get any worst.