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

S.N.	Power Plant	Capacity (MW)	Annual Energy (GWh)	Owned by	Type
1	Trishuli	24	292	NEA	ROR
2	Sunkoshi	10	66	NEA	ROR
3	Gandak	15	53	NEA	ROR
4	Kulekhani I	60	164	NEA	STO
5	Devighat	14	13	NEA	ROR
6	Kulekhani II	32	96	NEA	STO
7	Marshyangdi	69	519	NEA	PROR
8	Puwa	6	41	NEA	ROR
9	Modi	15	87	NEA	ROR
10	Kaligandaki	144	791	NEA	PROR
11	Andhikhola	5	38	BPC	ROR
12	Jhimruk	12	81	BPC	ROR
13	Khimti	60	353	HPL	ROR
14	Bhotekoshi	36	246	BKPC	ROR
15	Indrawati	7.5	51	NHPC	ROR
16	Syange	.2	1.2	SHC	ROR
17	Chilime	20	101	CHC	PROR
18	Piluwa	3	18	AVHCO	ROR
19	Sunkoshi	2.6	14.5	SHPC	ROR
20	Chaku Khola	1.5		Alliance Power
21	Small hydro	12.5	26	NEA	ROR
22	Small hydro (Isolated)	6.4		NEA	ROR
23	Microhydro	14.5
	Total	=SUM(ABOVE) 568.7

There are few hydro plants under construction by NEA and private developers as listed in the Table below:

Power Plants under construction

SN	Power Plant	Capacity (MW)	Owned by	Remarks
1	Middle Marshyangdi	70	NEA
3	Gamgad	0.4	NEA
4	Heldung	0.5	NEA
5
6	Rairang	0.5	Rairang HPD
7	Upper Modi	14	GITEC
8	Khudi	3.5	KHL
9	Mailung	5	MPC

  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

River Basin	Capacity on small river courses	Capacity on Major River Courses	Gross Total (GW)	Economic potential (GW)
Sapta Koshi	3.6	18.75	22.35	10.86
Sapta Gandaki	2.7	17.95	20.65	5.27
Karnali and Mahakali	3.5	32.68	36.18	25.1
Southern Rivers	1.04	3.07	4.11	.88
Total	10.84	72.45	83.29	42.14

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

S.N.	Project	Capacity (MW)	Type	Remarks
1	West Seti	750	Storage
2	Arun III	402	PROR
3	Budhi Gandaki	600	Storage
4	Kali Gandaki II	660	Storage
5	Lower Arun	308	PROR
6	Upper Arun	335	PROR
7	Karnali Chisapani	10800	Storage
8	Upper Karnali	300	PROR
9	Chamelia	30	ROR
10	Pancheswor	6480	Storage
11	Thulodhunga	25	ROR
12	Tamor/ Mewa	100	PROR
13	Dudh Koshi	300	Storage
14	Budhi Ganga	20	ROR
15	Rahughat Khola	27	ROR
16	Likhu 4	51	PROR
17	Kabeli A	30	ROR
18	Upper Marshyangdi A	121	PROR
19	Kulekhani III	45	Storage	Cascade of Kulekhani- I and II
20	Andhikhola (Storage)	180	Storage
21	Khimti II	27	ROR
22	Upper Modi A	42	ROR
23	Langtang Khola (Storage)	218	Storage
24	Madi Ishaneswor (Storage)	86	Storage
25	Upper Seti (Storage)	122	Storage
26	Kankai (Storage)	60	Storage
27	Upper Tamakoshi	250	PROR