Nepal bet nearly everything on hydropower - the floods show why that's a problem
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Until eight years ago, Nepal used to struggle with lengthy power cuts Almost 100% of Nepal's electricity comes from hydropower, and it produces so much it earns nearly $200m (£147m) each year exporting hydroelectricity to India and Bangladesh.
直到八年前，尼泊尔还一直在与长期断电作斗争 尼泊尔几乎 100% 的电力来自水力发电，该国每年通过向印度和孟加拉国出口水力发电赚取近 2 亿美元（1.47 亿英镑）的收入。
But the very glaciers and mountains giving Nepal this massive natural advantage are succumbing to global warming - and last Wednesday's deadly floods have laid bare the risks to the nation's hydropower ambitions.
但赋予尼泊尔巨大自然优势的冰川和山脉正在因全球变暖而消失，而上周三致命的洪水暴露了该国水电雄心面临的风险。
More than 1,300 people were killed, while thousands more are still missing.
超过 1,300 人死亡，数千人仍失踪。
The floods, which destroyed entire villages near the border of Nepal and Tibet, severely damaged 12 hydropower plants in the Trishuli River basin and knocked out more than 10% of Nepal's total power generation capacity.
洪水摧毁了尼泊尔和西藏边境附近的整个村庄，严重损坏了特里舒里河流域的12座水电站，摧毁了尼泊尔总发电量的10%以上。
Operators tell the BBC they don't yet know if any of these facilities can be brought back to operation. The state-owned Nepal Electricity Authority, which owns six of the 12 damaged facilities, has assured Nepalese households that supply remains adequate.
运营商告诉英国广播公司，他们还不知道这些设施是否可以恢复运营。 尼泊尔国有电力局拥有 12 个受损设施中的 6 个，该局已向尼泊尔家庭保证供电仍然充足。
But its spokesman Rajan Dhakal acknowledges that with climate-related disasters becoming more frequent, "the time has come for a rethink of our hydropower policy". More than 10% of Nepal's total electricity generation capacity was wiped out by the massive flash floods Only two-thirds of people in Nepal had access to electricity in 2010, and even connected households would face power cuts for up to 16 hours a day.
但其发言人拉詹·达卡尔承认，随着与气候有关的灾害变得越来越频繁，“现在是重新考虑我们的水电政策的时候了”。 尼泊尔超过10%的发电能力被大规模山洪摧毁 2010年，尼泊尔只有三分之二的人用上了电，即使是联网的家庭也会面临每天长达16小时的断电。
An expansion of hydropower infrastructure alongside efforts to tackle corruption and boost energy imports from India to fill seasonal gaps meant that by 2018, most of Nepal was enjoying 24 hours of power supply per day.
水电基础设施的扩建，加上反腐败和增加从印度进口能源以填补季节性缺口的努力，意味着到 2018 年，尼泊尔大部分地区将享受每天 24 小时的电力供应。
At present, there are 225 hydropower plants across Nepal with more than 3,900MW of installed capacity, according to the Nepal Electricity Authority - capable of powering some three million households simultaneously.
据尼泊尔电力局称，目前尼泊尔全国有225座水电站，装机容量超过3900兆瓦，能够同时为约300万户家庭供电。
Hundreds more such facilities are either being constructed or in the pipeline.
还有数百个此类设施正在建设或正在建设中。
Most of them are built high up in the mountains, where they can seize fast-flowing currents to generate power.
它们大多建在高山上，可以利用湍急的水流来发电。
These projects require little to no storage system. However, with the high-altitude regions of the Himalayas warming 50% faster than the global average, they face greater environmental risks. Preliminary investigations have pointed to a collapsed glacier and its bedrock as the cause of last week's flash flood.
这些项目几乎不需要存储系统。 然而，喜马拉雅山高海拔地区的变暖速度比全球平均水平快50%，面临着更大的环境风险。 初步调查表明，崩塌的冰川及其基岩是上周山洪暴发的原因。
Experts say there is a need to diversify Nepal's energy sources While scientists say it is too soon to draw any firm links to climate change, Nepal's Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority previously said more than nine in 10 disaster events recorded between 2018 and 2024 were "related to climate". Nepal's former Energy Minister Kulman Ghising, who called the catastrophic deluge a "once-in-a-century" event, says it holds lessons for designing plants and picking sites where they are built.
专家称尼泊尔需要实现能源多元化 尽管科学家表示，现在就与气候变化建立任何明确的联系还为时过早，但尼泊尔灾害风险减少和管理局此前表示，2018年至2024年期间记录的十分之九以上的灾害事件“与气候有关”。 尼泊尔前能源部长库尔曼·吉辛称这次灾难性洪水是“百年一遇”的事件，他表示，这次灾难为设计工厂和选择建造地点提供了经验教训。
"We need to design the plants [to be more] resilient to the floods and, most importantly, adopt early-warning systems as well as robust emergency evacuation measures," he told environmental news outlet Mongabay.
他告诉环境新闻媒体 Mongabay：“我们需要将工厂设计得更能抵御洪水，最重要的是，采用预警系统以及强有力的紧急疏散措施。”
Potentially hundreds of hydropower labourers, engineers and residents are thought to be trapped inside the mud-filled tunnels of these plants since the floods hit.
据信，自洪水袭击以来，可能有数百名水电工人、工程师和居民被困在这些工厂的泥浆隧道内。
A "rethink" of Nepal's hydropower strategy could involve reservoir-based plants that need not be situated up in the mountains, says Dhakal from the Nepal Electricity Authority.
尼泊尔电力局的达卡尔表示，对尼泊尔水电战略的“重新思考”可能涉及基于水库的发电厂，而不必建在山上。
These could allow water to be stored and released as needed, but would also involve significant economic and environmental costs.
这些可以根据需要储存和释放水，但也会带来巨大的经济和环境成本。
Watch: Nepal says it will need billions in funding to rebuild after flash floods Some question if Nepal has been too reliant on hydropower.
观察：尼泊尔表示山洪暴发后需要数十亿美元的资金进行重建 有人质疑尼泊尔是否过于依赖水力发电。
"We should not be putting all our eggs in one basket in these dangerous times," says renewable energy expert Kushal Gurung, who founded the clean tech firm WindPower Nepal. "We need to seriously embrace other alternatives as well, like solar and wind.
“在这个危险时期，我们不应该把所有鸡蛋放在一个篮子里，”可再生能源专家库沙尔·古隆（Kushal Gurung）说道，他是清洁技术公司 WindPower尼泊尔的创始人。 “我们还需要认真接受其他替代方案，例如太阳能和风能。
And for that we will need to revise our energy policy that is at the moment very pro-hydropower," he says.
为此，我们需要修改目前非常支持水电的能源政策，”他说。
The claim is echoed by Vivek Shastry, researcher at Columbia University's Center on Global Energy Policy, who argues that "meaningful additions of wind and solar generation is a resilience strategy that can limit single-point or interconnected electricity system failures in the future".
哥伦比亚大学全球能源政策中心研究员维韦克·沙斯特里(Vivek Shastry)对此表示赞同，他认为“风能和太阳能发电的有意义的增加是一种弹性策略，可以限制未来单点或互连电力系统的故障”。
A report from the German aid agency suggests the technical potential for energy production from solar power in Nepal is around 10 times larger, external than that of hydropower.
德国援助机构的一份报告显示，尼泊尔太阳能发电的技术潜力大约是水力发电的 10 倍。
Puspa Sharma, a senior research fellow at the National University of Singapore's Institute of South Asian Studies, agrees Nepal has to diversify its energy sources, but warns this can be done "only to a limited extent". "While there is untapped capacity in wind and solar, hydropower really is the one that gives Nepal massive competitive advantage vis-a-vis its South Asian neighbours," he says, citing various studies comparing renewable energy potential in the region.
新加坡国立大学南亚研究所高级研究员普斯帕·夏尔马（Puspa Sharma）同意尼泊尔必须实现能源来源多样化，但警告说这“只能在有限的范围内”实现。 “虽然风能和太阳能发电能力尚未开发，但水力发电确实为尼泊尔相对于其南亚邻国带来了巨大的竞争优势，”他引用了对该地区可再生能源潜力进行比较的多项研究表示。
A German report suggests Nepal could potentially generate more electricity from solar power than from hydropower Hydropower continues to dominate large-scale investments in Nepal, and some climate activists say the funding has continued despite known disaster risks.
德国的一份报告表明，尼泊尔利用太阳能发电的潜力可能比水力发电更多 水电继续主导尼泊尔的大规模投资，一些气候活动人士表示，尽管存在已知的灾害风险，但资金仍在继续。
The Upper Trishuli-1 project, which has been all but destroyed after last week's floods, was one of Nepal's largest foreign direct investment ventures, valued at about $647m.
Upper Trishuli-1 项目在上周的洪水之后几乎被摧毁，是尼泊尔最大的外国直接投资项目之一，价值约 6.47 亿美元。
Its backers include the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC).
其支持者包括亚洲开发银行（ADB）和国际金融公司（IFC）。
The Upper Trishuli 3A, which has also been severely hit, was funded by China's Export-Import Bank.
同样受到严重打击的上Trishuli 3A项目是由中国进出口银行资助的。
Himanshu Thakkar, coordinator of the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers & People, says international lenders were "acutely aware of the extreme danger to which they were exposing thousands of labourers, officials, residents, rivers, infrastructure and landscape".
南亚大坝、河流和人民网络协调员希曼舒·塔卡尔表示，国际贷款机构“敏锐地意识到他们正在使数以千计的劳工、官员、居民、河流、基础设施和景观面临极端危险”。
"Their own reports repeatedly highlighted it.
“他们自己的报告反复强调了这一点。
But they did not take any preventive steps, did not demand stringent checks and balances, nor were they prepared for a calamity they knew could occur," he says. The ADB and IFC told the BBC the project design of Upper Trishuli-1 "reflected findings from independent technical assessments that looked at the risks of flooding and landslides affecting the project site, using studies of the glaciers and glacial lakes and historical evidence available at the time".
但他们没有采取任何预防措施，没有要求严格的制衡，也没有为他们知道可能发生的灾难做好准备，”他说。 亚行和国际金融公司告诉英国广播公司，Upper Trishuli-1的项目设计“反映了独立技术评估的结果，该评估利用对冰川和冰川湖的研究以及当时可用的历史证据，研究了影响项目现场的洪水和山体滑坡的风险”。
The project's early warning system was strengthened following a flood in 2024, they said, and further work to assess risks was taken out after another flood in 2025.
他们表示，在 2024 年发生洪水后，该项目的预警系统得到了加强，并在 2025 年发生另一场洪水后开展了进一步的风险评估工作。
"The precise causes of the August 2026 disaster, the extent of the damage, the performance of the Project's design, and protective measures including the early warning system, is being gathered and remains to be verified as well as assessed."
“2026年8月灾难的确切原因、损害程度、项目设计的性能以及包括预警系统在内的保护措施正在收集中，有待核实和评估。”
The BBC has contacted the China's Export-Import Bank for comment. History has already shown the Trishuli River basin to be volatile, Thakkar says, pointing to how it had been hit by floods in the last two years.
BBC已联系中国进出口银行请其置评。 塔卡说，历史已经表明特里苏里河流域是不稳定的，并指出了过去两年该地区如何遭受洪水袭击。
In September 2024, an unprecedented cloudburst over the Trishuli and Bhote Koshi river basins sparked flash floods in Rasuwa, Nuwakot and Dhading - settlements by the river that are also among the hardest hit from last week's floods.
2024 年 9 月，Trishuli 和 Bhote Koshi 河流域遭遇前所未有的暴雨，引发了 Rasuwa、Nuwakot 和 Dhading 的山洪爆发，这些沿河定居点也是上周洪水受灾最严重的地区之一。
Then in July 2025, a glacial lake in Tibet's Gyirong county burst and swept down this very same stretch of river into Nepal, killing at least 11 people.
然后在 2025 年 7 月，西藏吉隆县的一个冰川湖决口，顺着这条河流冲入尼泊尔，造成至少 11 人死亡。
That flood damaged critical infrastructure and halted trade along the busy Nepal-China corridor.
那场洪水损坏了重要的基础设施，并导致繁忙的尼泊尔-中国走廊沿线的贸易中断。
The border crossing was shut for nearly six months and had only reopened on 1 January this year.
该过境点关闭了近六个月，直到今年 1 月 1 日才重新开放。
Dhakal from the Nepal Electricity Authority admits that even if climate risk assessments were carried out correctly, "the designing of the plants may not have been done accordingly". "Clearly we will need to improve in the way we build and operate our hydropower plants," he adds.
尼泊尔电力局的达卡尔承认，即使正确地进行了气候风险评估，“电厂的设计也可能没有相应地进行”。 “显然，我们需要改进建设和运营水力发电厂的方式，”他补充道。
Private operators are already feeling the financial impact. Insurers have paid out around $40m for flood-related damage to more than 20 privately owned plants over the past three years, according to Uttam Bhlon Lama from the Independent Power Producers' Association of Nepal. He warns insurance premiums are rising significantly and making the cost of doing business "unfeasible".
私营运营商已经感受到了财务影响。 尼泊尔独立发电商协会的 Uttam Bhlon Lama 表示，在过去三年里，保险公司已为 20 多家私营发电厂因洪水造成的损失支付了约 4000 万美元。 他警告说，保险费正在大幅上涨，使得开展业务的成本“不可行”。
More than 1,300 people have died in Nepal during the recent disaster This disaster shows climate risks are international and cannot be managed by Nepal alone, suggests Manjeet Dhakal, a member of the country's climate delegation at the UN Climate Change Conference.
尼泊尔在最近的灾难中已造成1300多人死亡 参加联合国气候变化会议的尼泊尔气候代表团成员曼吉特·达卡尔表示，这场灾难表明气候风险是国际性的，无法仅靠尼泊尔来应对。
Governments and international organisations must share data, assess impacts and develop early-warning systems together, he urges.
他敦促各国政府和国际组织必须共享数据、评估影响并共同开发预警系统。
"Nepal is among the least responsible for the greenhouse emissions that led to these exacerbated risks. "Ironically, our hydropower industry is an attempt to reduce our already minimal emissions...
“尼泊尔是导致这些风险加剧的温室气体排放责任最轻的国家之一。 “具有讽刺意味的是，我们的水电行业试图减少本已最低的排放......
We cannot, and should not, be made to respond to these risks alone."
我们不能也不应该独自应对这些风险。”
'Layer upon layer of miracles': How Nepal flood survivors were rescued from tunnel Nepal tunnel rescuers hunt for survivors with rafts and drone The final minutes before floodwater crashed through Nepal-China border
“层层奇迹”：尼泊尔洪水幸存者如何从隧道中获救 尼泊尔隧道救援人员用木筏和无人机搜寻幸存者 洪水冲过中尼边境前的最后几分钟
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