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by pclmulqdq 1145 days ago
> I don’t agree with “They don't control the demand for their power” because Bhutan do have choice over how much they deliver, even if it is only in the long term via their contracts. Bhutan exports 70% of their power, so clearly India wants it.

Without specific knowledge of the agreements between India and Bhutan, this is also hypothetical, and I have to say that it's a big assumption that "India clearly wants it." And even for economics 101 commodities, no supplier controls their demand curve or the optimal quantity to sell.

1 comments

Bhutan has a monopoly on the locations within its border to put hydro dams. India obviously wants the power (and perhaps Bhutan’s economic dependency) so India has negotiated with Bhutan on how to build those dams.

I get your points, but ultimately Bhutan has control over building hydrodams within its borders, so it is controlling supply, so it does have a lot of control over the price. Of course you can come up with a million quibbles about the details, but you are just arguing yourself into a corner case.

OP’s point was: “Are you suggesting they cannot sell more [electricity to india]?”. You said “They probably can't”. Yet Bhutan is developing more hydro dams, and they are going to sell more electricity to India. Case closed!

Unless you can find some data showing that they are spilling water for $0 without generating electricity…