West Seti power project

Tags: International News

India will take over the ambitious hydroelectric project in Nepal nearly four years after China pulled out of the West Seti project.

• The Government of Nepal has decided to hand over the West Seti Hydropower Project and 308 MW SR6 Storage Hydroelectric Project to India's National Hydro Power Company Limited (NHPC).

• West Seti hydropower project 

• West Seti is a 750MW hydro power project.

• It is planned to start this project on Paschim Seti river/basin in Nepal.

• Specifically, it is a storage project designed to produce and export large amounts of electrical energy to India.

• The project is envisaged to provide 31.9% of electricity to Nepal free of cost.

• No work has progressed on this for the last six decades.

• The project was earlier awarded to a Chinese company.

• China's Three Gorges Corporation informed the Nepal government in August 2018 that it would not be able to execute the 750 MW West Seti hydroelectric project.

• India -Nepal Power Relations

• Nepal is rich in power sources with approximately 6,000 rivers and an estimated capacity of 83,000 MW.

• India has formally approached Nepal on several occasions.

• India is seen as a viable market for Nepal, but there remains some uncertainty in Nepal over India's inability to complete projects on time.

• India has expressed its intention to use the major rivers in the north.

• An ambitious Mahakali treaty was signed in 1996 to generate 6,480 MW, but India is yet to submit a detailed project report.

• West Seti has the potential to become a defining model for Nepal-India power relations in the future.