Flood-Damaged Rasuwagadhi Hydropower Project Resumes Partial Operation

The Rasuwagadhi Hydropower Project, severely damaged by a flood on July 8, 2025, has resumed partial operation.

The project’s dam and headworks were struck by a supraglacial lake outburst flood on the Lende River, an upper tributary of the Bhotekoshi that flows from Tibet. The surge of water and debris swept through Nepal’s Rasuwa district.

According to the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), repairs to the headworks allowed temporary river diversion, enabling one of the plant’s three units to restart electricity generation from Saturday, December 6. The project has an installed capacity of 111 MW. One unit produces 37 MW.

NEA said the remaining two units are expected to come online within a month. “Repairs to the headworks will be completed before the next monsoon,” NEA Managing Director Manoj Silwal said.

The early morning flood caused extensive damage to one of Nepal’s major trade corridors with China, sweeping away the Miteri Bridge and disrupting electricity production and customs operations. It affected multiple hydropower projects — including Rasuwagadhi (111 MW), Chilime (22 MW), and Trishuli 3A (60 MW) — halting over 200 MW of electricity generation.

According to the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), China-Nepal flood was caused by draining ‘supraglacial’ lake that started forming as a small pond at the end of December 2024 which grew significantly in June 2025. 

“Supraglacial lakes form on the surface of glaciers, particularly in debris-covered areas,” read the ICIMOD’s statement issued a day after the incident. “They are highly dynamic and ephemeral, often beginning as small meltwater ponds that gradually expand and sometimes merge to form larger supraglacial lakes.”

The flood had swept away machines, gates and debris-control equipment at the headworks, according to the NEA. More than two metres of sludge had piled up inside control buildings. Large boulders had entered the intake zone, and structures guiding water into the tunnel had collapsed. The tailrace channel had also flooded, submerging the turbine floor.

At least seven persons were reported dead and 18 missing following the disaster. Twenty staff members working at the project were rescued by an army helicopter from both the headworks and the residential quarters. The staff quarters were completely washed away. Several sections of the main highway from Syaphrubensi to the project site were blocked by landslides triggered by the flood.

The project was developed under the leadership of Chilime Hydropower Company, a subsidiary of the NEA. It began commercial generation on December 31, 2024.

Once fully restored, the plant is expected to generate 613.875 million units of electricity annually and earn an estimated Rs 3.25 billion each year.