Monday, April 26, 2010

ELECTRICITY PRODUCTION AND MAJOR HYDRO ELECTRICITY PROJECT OF NEPAL


Importance
Electricity plays a vital role in the modern world. The development of science and technology has made our lives easy and comfortable. This would not have been possible without electricity.

We use electricity for various domestic purposes. For example: refrigerator, fax, oven, heater, etc. Industries require machinery and other heavy tools to produce many manufactured goods. Electricity is a must to run these machinery and heavy tools.

Similarly, means of communication cannot develop without electricity. We cannot even think of computer or television without electricity. Without the means of communication the pace of human development will be very slow. At present the whole world is suffering from global pollution. If electricity is used to operate the vehicles, the air pollution will be controlled.

There are various sources of electricity. They are: water, petrol, diesel, solar energy, vapour, bio-gas and steam.

Electricity in Nepal
Nepal has huge potentiality of producing electricity. Nepal alone has about 6,000 big and small rivers. Being a mountainous country it is drained by many snow-fed swift flowing rivers. The rivers like Koshi, Gandaki, Karnali, Rapti, Bheri, Mahakali, etc have great potentiality of producing hydro-electricity.

If we could harness the potential water resources to produce hydro-electricity, there is no doubt that Nepal’s economy will definitely rise. Many places of Nepal, especially, the remote and rural areas are still in darkness. Wherever, the hydro-electricity is not possible, other resources to generate electricity must be utilized.

The bio-gas plant has become very popular among the villagers in rural areas especially for domestic use. Wind power has been utilized in Kagbeni (Mustand) to generate electricity. In urban area people use solar energy for solar heaters. Besides water, other sources of energy are not enough to run the industries and factories. In order to develop Nepal, hydro-power is the most reliable source of energy.

Hydro-power was generated for the fist time in Nepal in 1965 BS during the time of Chandra Shumsher. It had the capacity of 500 KW and was located near Pharping, south of Kathmandu. The second hydro-power station was established during the time of Juddha Shumsher at Sundarijal in the north of Kathmandu, having the capacity of 640 KW.

Nepal has the potentiality of producing 83000 MW of hydro-electricity. But, only 390 MW of electricity has been generated so far from 50 big and small electricity generating projects by the year 2057 BS.
The statistics of census 2058 shows that how many people of the country use electricity on the basis of types of lights they use are as follows:

S.No. - Types of Light ---------- Number of Family ----- Percentage
1. -- Electricity ------------------------------- 16,44,499 ----------------- 39.39
2. -- Kerosene Lamp ------------------------ 23,86,293 ----------------- 54.17
3. -- Bio Gas Light ------------------------------- 8,075 ------------------ 0.19
4. -- Other materials ---------------------------- 94,143 ------------------ 2.26
5. -- Unidentified ------------------------------- 41,446 ------------------- 0.99
---------- Total --------------------------------- 41,74,457 ------------------ 100
Source: Central Bureau of Statistics, 2058

Major Hydro Electricity Projects of Nepal (in KW)
S.NO. - Name of Station --- Installed Capacity (KW) --- Year of Completion in AD
1. -- Sundarijal ------------------------ 640 --------------------------------- 1935
2. -- Panauti ------------------------ 2,400 --------------------------------- 1965
3. -- Trisuli ------------------------ 24,000 --------------------------------- 1967
4. -- (Fewa) Pokhara ---------------- 1,088 --------------------------------- 1967
5. -- Sunkoshi ---------------------- 10,050 -------------------------------- 1979
6. -- Gandaki ----------------------- 15,000 -------------------------------- 1979
7. -- Kulekhani I -------------------- 60,000 ------------------------------- 1982
8. -- Tinau (Butwal) ------------------ 1,024 ------------------------------- 1978
9. -- Devighat ----------------------- 14,100 ------------------------------- 1983
10. - Pokhara (Seti) ------------------ 1,500 ------------------------------- 1985
11. - Kulekhani II ------------------- 32,000 ------------------------------- 1986
12. - Marsyangdi ------------------- 69,000 -------------------------------- 1989
13. - Aandhaikhola ------------------ 5,100 --------------------------------- 1991
14. - Tatopani Myagdi I ------------- 1,000 --------------------------------- 1991
15. - Tatopani Myagdi II ------------ 1,000 --------------------------------- 1995
16. - Jhimruk Pyuthan ------------- 12,300 --------------------------------- 1995
17. - Puwa Khola -------------------- 6,200 --------------------------------- 2000
18. - Khimti Khola ------------------ 6,000 --------------------------------- 2000
19. - Modi Khola ------------------- 14,800 --------------------------------- 2001
20. - Bhote Koshi ------------------ 36,000 --------------------------------- 2002
21. - Indrawati ---------------------- 7,500 --------------------------------- 2003
22. - Chilime ----------------------- 20,000 -------------------------------- 2003
23. - Kali Gandaki ‘A’ ------------- 1,44,000 -------------------------------- 2003
24. - Middle Marsyangdi ------------ 70,000 ------------------------------- 2008
---------------Source: Central Bureau of Statistics ----------------
The government has encouraged private companies to invest in hydro-power project to fulfil the growing demands.

Problems of Electricity in Nepal
a. Lack of capital to install electricity generators.
b. Lack of public awareness, leading to careless use and consumption.
c. Leakage and stealing.
d. Lack of technical manpower.
e. Lack of utilization for better purpose.
f. Unable to supply electricity to remote areas.

Solutions
a. To make the people aware of the use and saving of electricity.
b. To stop electricity leakages and stealing.
c. To generate more technical manpower.
d. To establish industries based on electricity.
e. To provide electricity in rural and remote areas.

1 comment:

  1. I am looking for industries in nepal categories by zone but i can't find any result

    ReplyDelete