Bhutan hydropower project construction start date slips from 2026 to November 2027

Bhutan hydropower project construction start date moves to November 2027

Bhutan hydropower project construction start date for the Bunakha plant, a 180 megawatt hydropower facility on the Wangchhu River in Chhukha Dzongkhag, is not 2026. A hydropower facility generates electricity by moving water through turbines, and a megawatt is a unit of power equal to 1 million watts. The Asian Development Bank own project filing lists the loan financing the plant as proposed, not yet approved, with a fact finding mission that ran from June 29 to July 3, 2026. Druk Green Power Corporation, the state utility building the plant through a subsidiary, published a resettlement plan in August 2026 that sets November 15, 2027, as the target date to award the main construction contract, more than a year later than earlier reporting suggested.

A 250 million dollar loan still needs approval

The Asian Development Bank is financing Bunakha with a loan of 250 million dollars under its ordinary capital resources, its own project page states, after the plant cleared the concept stage on October 1, 2025. Druk Green Power Corporation was reported in 2025 negotiating a larger, 450 million dollar loan, but the bank own current filing lists 250 million dollars as the loan amount, not the total project cost. Bunakha traces back to a detailed project report first approved in 2014, when it was planned as a joint venture with India Tehri Hydro Development Corporation and Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam before stalling over how to split costs.

Bunakha would help regulate 3 much larger downstream plants

Bunakha is designed as a reservoir project, 17.25 kilometers long from Bunakha to Damchu, that would help regulate water flow to 3 existing hydropower plants downstream on the same river system, Chukha at 336 megawatts, Tala at 1,020 megawatts and Wangchu at 570 megawatts, a combined capacity more than 8 times Bunakha own. The Asian Development Bank estimates Bunakha would generate 719 gigawatt hours of electricity a year, plus another 745 gigawatt hours a year from those downstream plants during the dry season. A gigawatt hour equals 1 million kilowatt hours, a way to measure how much electricity a plant produces in a year.

Resettlement covers 44 households before construction can begin

Before the main construction contract can be awarded, Druk Green Power Corporation must complete compensation for 44 households, covering 218 people, whose land the project needs. The plant needs 1,139.84 acres of land in total, 97% of it State Reserved Forest Land and the rest private land. Of the 44 affected households, 35 are classified as severely affected, 9 as vulnerable and 1 must physically relocate. The utility budget for this compensation is 44.72 million ngultrum, ngultrum being Bhutan own currency, with its 4 named spending categories set out below.

Demand for power in Bhutan has more than doubled since 2021

Bunakha matters because peak electricity demand in Bhutan has more than doubled, from 487 megawatts in 2021 to over 1,000 megawatts in 2024, the Asian Development Bank states, while dry season peak generation runs at only around 562 megawatts between December and March. Industrial consumers such as ferro silicon, cement, steel and data centers now account for over 85% of domestic electricity consumption, and Bhutan total installed generation capacity stands at 3,491 megawatts. Bunakha would add to that capacity only once its loan is approved and its construction contract is awarded, both still ahead of it rather than behind it.