Hydropower development along the major rivers basins in South Asia: benefits for Bangladesh
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(2020) 6:116
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Hydropower development along the major rivers basins in South Asia: benefits for Bangladesh Muhammad Mizanur Rahaman1 · Mohammad Safayat Hossain2 Received: 29 May 2020 / Accepted: 27 October 2020 © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
Abstract Electricity demand in Bangladesh is much higher than the electricity generation capacity of the country. The generation of electricity in Bangladesh mainly depends on natural gas that is a non-renewable resource. In 2017, the total electricity generation capacity was 13,621 MW of which natural gas contributed 62.62% of electricity generation. This is an unsustainable and alarming trend for Bangladesh, because after 15–20 years, natural gas reserves in the country will run out. The future electricity demand of Bangladesh in 2035 will be around 87,991 MW. Finding out how to fulfill the future electricity demand of Bangladesh and to what extent hydropower development along the Brahmaputra basin, Ganges basin and Myanmar could help meet the energy demand in Bangladesh are the main objectives of this research. Nepal, Bhutan, India, China, Myanmar all of these South Asian countries have huge hydropower potential. After meeting domestic electricity demand, these hydropower-rich countries could export excess electricity to neighboring countries like Bangladesh and India. The findings of this study suggest that by collaborating with all hydropower-rich South Asian countries, Bangladesh could meet its future electricity demand. Keywords South Asia · Bangladesh · Hydropower development · Integrated river basin management · Regional energy trade · Renewable energy · Ganges · Brahmaputra
Introduction The total electricity generation in Bangladesh is 13,179 MW (BPDB 2017) of which hydropower contributes around 1.74% of the total electricity generation. The current electricity demand in Bangladesh is 26,000 MW and the electricity deficit is around 12,871 MW. Bangladesh has a limited non-renewable resource like natural gas. To meet her growing electricity demand and increasing electricity deficit, Bangladesh is looking for alternative sources of electricity generation both at home and abroad. As Bangladesh is located in the downstream of few major rivers basins, * Muhammad Mizanur Rahaman [email protected]; rahamanmm‑ce@uap‑bd.edu Mohammad Safayat Hossain [email protected] 1
Department of Civil Engineering, University of Asia Pacific, 74/A Green Road, Dhaka 1205, Bangladesh
Department of Environmental Engineering, Ondokuz Mayis University, Körfez, 19 Mayıs üniversitesi, Atakum, 55270 Samsun, Turkey
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namely Ganges and Brahmaputra, with enormous hydropower potential (Fig. 1), exploiting hydropower potential of the international rivers through cooperation with upstream countries like Nepal, Bhutan, China, India, and Myanmar, will contribute mitigating currently electricity shortage in the country (Rahaman 2009). The total length of the Brahmaputra river is 2900 km and the total drainage area of the Brahmaputra is about 712,035 k m2 sha
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