Hydropower has been recognised as a sustainable source of energy with almost
zero input cost. Its benefits are that it is non-polluting in the sense that it releases
no heat or noxious gases, it has low operating and maintenance cost, its
technology offers reliable and flexible operation, and hydropower stations have
increased efficiencies along with long life. Nepal’s huge potential in hydropower is
still untapped. Though Nepal has not yet been able to tap even one percent of its
potential electricity capacity and 60 percent of Nepal’s population is still deprived
of electricity, it is fascinating to note that Nepal’s start in 1911 in the hydropower
generation almost dates back to a century. As a cheap, renewable source of energy
with negligible environmental impacts, small hydropower has an important role to
play in Nepal’s future energy supply. Accordingly, micro-hydro system is becoming
increasingly popular as an energy source in rural Nepal. Use of environmentallyfriendly technologies and implementation of sound legal and institutional issues
are critical to improve the reach of the population to hydropower. To make the
Plan targets in the power sector a reality, directing more resources to the power
projects focusing on rural population remains the pre-requisite. The major
strategies of the power sector have been appropriately identified as promoting
private sector participation in power generation and distribution, integrating rural
electrification with rural economic development programs, and strengthening
power infrastructure. The immense role of the power sector in contributing to the
generation of broad-based, sustainable and high level of economic growth as well
as improving the relative competitiveness of the economy both on a regional and
global basis makes it imperative that the programs and activities on power sector
development as visualized in the plans and policies be given the utmost urgency,
priority and focus.
I. INTRODUCTION
It is now not a new knowledge that flowing water creates energy that can be captured
and turned into electricity called hydropower. Hydro comes from the Greek word ‘hydra’,
meaning water. It is the electricity produced by the movement of fresh water from rivers
and lakes. Also called hydropower, it is a renewable energy source dependent upon the
hydrologic cycle of water, which involves evaporation, precipitation and the flow of
*
Head Assistant, Research Department, Nepal Rastra Bank, E-mail: [email protected]
Hydropower Development in Nepal….. 71
water due to gravity. Gravity causes water to flow downwards and this downward motion
of water contains kinetic energy that can be converted into mechanical energy, and then
from mechanical energy into electrical energy. At a good site, hydropower can generate
very cost effective electricity. The history of conversion of kinetic energy into
mechanical energy dates back to two thousand years ago in ancient Greece when wooden
waterwheels were used. Hydropower represents an important source of energy,
accounting for one-fifth of the world’s electricity supply. Most of the technically and
economically feasible hydropower potential has been exploited in the developed countries
and the developing countries, too, realizing the significance of this source of power for
the higher sustained economic growth and development of their respective economies,
have been embarking on the various phases of the hydropower development process.
Hydropower projects have a number of benefits. The prominent among them are that
these projects have low energy production cost considering the long effective lifetime of
the plants along with the low operation and maintenance cost, greater efficiency than of
all the major types of plants using non-renewable and renewable energy resources, almost
complete absence of greenhouse gas emission, possibility of multi-purpose water use and
water management such as irrigation and regulation of river flows both during flood
season and low flow periods, independence of fluctuating fuel prices and supply
disruptions, efficient output regulation, rapid response capacity to variable energy
demand, reliable, proven mature technology with known positive and negative influences,
a renewable energy source, save consumption of fossil, fuel, or firewood which constitute
classic energy sources that contribute to the greenhouse effects or atmospheric pollution
as the hydropower plants make use of artificial fall of the river, the hydraulic conveyance
circuit that can be integrated in other components for multiple purposes such as irrigation,
water supply systems, fisheries, water-tourism, etc. The most important benefit is that
hydropower plants produce electricity without consuming power.
Hydropower provides a reliable, efficient, safe and economic source of power for
increasing effectiveness of the decentralized industries system. The use of water to
produce hydropower has the advantage of absent of carbon-dioxide, sulphur-dioxide,
nitrous-oxide and solid or liquid waste production. Thus, the water sources should
contribute to a substantial reduction in emission of carbon-dioxide and other harmful
gases responsible for greenhouse effects. The water will continue to fall downhill and will
continue to be a resource for men and environment needs as a part of the natural
hydrologic cycle. However, it has some disadvantages like high investment along with
long lead-time for project realization, long gestation period, and environmental and social
problems, mainly due to inundation of affected areas by large water reservoirs causing
possible destruction of unique biotypes and endemic species. Some other disadvantages
include, possible destruction of human habitat, high cost for the necessary resettlements
and fallouts related to social and political implications.
Regarding the presentation of the analysis, this first section outlines the Introduction.
The second section covers the History of the electricity development with reference to
Nepal. The third section on Operations of Hydropower Stations and the fourth section on
the Small Scale Hydropower describe, in short, the operational technicalities of the
station operations. The fifth section on Development of Hydropower in Nepal describes
the decadewise growth of hydropower and the sixth section on Small Hydroplants in
Nepal analyses the distribution of smaller hydroplants. While the seventh section covers
72 ….. ECONOMIC REVIEW
the Hydropower Policy, the eighth section deals with the Challenges before arriving at the
Conclusion which is given in the last or the ninth section.
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