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THE STATUS OF HYDROPOWER IN NEPAL
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Nepal has a huge hydropower potential. In fact, the perennial nature of Nepali rivers and the steep gradient of the country's topography provide ideal conditions for the development of some of the world's largest hydroelectric projects in Nepal. Current estimates are that Nepal has approximately 40,000 MW of economically feasible hydropower potential. However, the present situation is that Nepal has developed only approximately 600 MW of hydropower. Therefore, bulk of the economically feasible generation has not been realized yet. Besides, the multipurpose, secondary and tertiary benefits have not been realized from the development of its rivers.
Although bestowed with
tremendous hydropower resources, only about 40% of Nepal's population has
access to electricity. Most of the power plants in Nepal are run-of-river
type with energy available in excess of the in-country demand during the
monsoon season and deficit during the dry season.
Nepal's electricity
generation is dominated by hydropower, though in the entire scenario of
energy use of the country, the electricity is a tiny fraction, only 1% energy
need is fulfilled by electricity. The bulk of the energy need is dominated by
fuel wood (68%), agricultural waste (15%), animal dung (8%) and imported
fossil fuel (8%). The other fact is that only about 40% of Nepal's population
has access to electricity. With this scenario and having immense potential of
hydropower development, it is important for Nepal to increase its energy
dependency on electricity with hydropower development. This contributes to
deforestation, soil erosion and depletion, and increased flooding downstream
in the Ganges plain. Shortage of wood also pushes farmers to burn animal
dung, which is needed for agriculture. Not only this, the development of
hydropower will help to achieve the millennium development goals with
protecting environment, increasing literacy, improving health of children and
women with better energy. Growing environmental degradation adds a sense of
urgency.
Energy Consumption in Nepal
The electricity demand in
Nepal is increasing by about 7-9% per year. About 40 % of population in Nepal
has access to electricity through the grid and off grid system. Nepal's Tenth
Five Year Plan (2002– 2007) aims to extend the electrification within country
and export to India for mutual benefit. The new Hydropower Policy 2001 seeks
to promote private sector investment in the sector of hydropower development
and aims to expand the electrification within the country and export.
The hydropower system in
Nepal is dominated by run-of-river Projects. There is only one seasonal
storage project in the system. There is shortage of power during winter and
spill during wet season. The load factor is quite low as the majority of the
consumption is dominated by household use. This imbalance has clearly shown
the need for storage projects, and hence, cooperation between the two
neighboring countries is essential for the best use of the hydro resource for
mutual benefit.
The system loss is one of
the major issues to be addressed to improve the power system which accounts
to be 25 % including technical and non-technical losses like pilferage.
Status
of Power Generation and Transmission
Nepal has 600 MW of
installed capacity in its Integrated Nepal Power System (INPS). The power
system is dominated by the hydropower which contributes about 90 % of the
system and the balance is met by multi fuel plant. The hydropower development
in Nepal began with the development of 500 kW Pharping power plant in 1911.
The most recent significant power plant commissioned is the 144-MW Kali
Gandaki “A” Hydroelectric Plant.
Transmission Network in
Nepal
Until 1990, hydropower development was under the
domain of government utility, Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) only.
However, with the enactment of new Hydropower Development Policy 1992, the
sector was opened to the private sector also. There are number of projects
already built by the private developers. Private power producers contribute
148 MW of power to the ‘Integrated Nepal Power System'.
The major hydropower
plants with their capacity are listed in the table as follows:
Power Plants in Operation:
There are few hydro plants under construction by
NEA and private developers as listed in the Table below:
Power
Plants under construction
Potential for Development
There are about six
thousand big and small rivers in three major river basins namely Koshi,
Gandaki and Karnali including some southern rivers, and two border rivers,
Mechi and Mahakali in Nepal. The basin wise potential for power generation is
in the table below:
Basin
wise Hydropower potential
There are many projects
which have been identified for development. Some of those identified
promising projects for development are in the following table:
Identified
potential Hydropower Projects
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Friday, January 18, 2013
Present Status Of Hydropower In Nepal
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source:NEA
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