Dams in foothills can ease power crunch: Experts

THIRA L BHUSAL KATHMANDU, May 14: Senior government officials and noted experts have come up with an idea that can be instrumental in tackling the country´s acute power shortage relatively cheaply and fast. Huge volumes of water can be stored during the monsoon season with dams built in open and flat areas in the foothills of the high Himalayas, with the water to be used during the dry season by hydro-power projects located in the lower regions. Experts argue that this idea can be an appropriate answer to Nepal´s electricity demand. The country faces acute power shortage mainly in the dry season as all the hydro-power projects except Kulekhani are built on the run-of-river model. With the help of such storage, even the existing run-of-river projects can perform like storage projects to some extent, the experts believe. “By constructing a dam in the Jomsom area in Mustang district, we can store a large volume of water during the monsoon season,” said Sheetal Babu Regmee, joint secretary at the Ministry of Water Resources. “Once we release water from the storage, Kaligandaki-A, the largest hydro project in operation in the country, can significantly increase its generation capacity in the dry season also.” Electricity generation at Kaligandaki-A, which has a 144-MW installed capacity, goes down at times to about 40 MW during the dry season due to receding water levels in snow-fed rivers. Building a storage dam in the Jomsom area has multiple benefits for Nepal, argues Regmee. “Not only Kaligandaki-A, but other projects to be built along the Kaligandaki corridor can use the same water to enhance their generation capacity,” he said. Different hydro-power promoters have acquired licenses for various projects along the Kaligandaki, and they have about 1,000-MW generation capacity altogether. Similar storage dams can be built in the upper part of the Marsyangdi River. Two major run-of-river model hydro projects - 69 MW Marsyangdi and 70-MW Mid-Marsyangdi - are in operation on the river. A single storage project can help optimize the generation capacity at these and other new projects in the dry season, Regmee said. He added that the Budhigandaki is another river where such storage dams can be feasible. Regmee is not alone in believing in such an approach. Kumar Pandey, Chief Technology Officer at Hydro Solutions Pvt. Ltd., said that building storage projects should be given priority in the Kaligandaki. “Because access by road is available in various regions through which the Kaligandaki flows,” Pandey, who has conducted a study on the possibility of such storage dams in the region, argued, “the projects on the river would be located in the middle part of the country which balances out the power supply system in the national grid.” The regulated water flow from storage dams can be used to enhance the capacity of different projects in the lower parts of the river on a cascade model, something which is not possible if such storage dams are built in the plains. The regulated water run from storage projects in the Tarai districts goes directly into Indian territory, the experts pointed out. Different institutions have identified several locations with huge swathes of plain and open area suitable for the construction of storage dams. However, no one has conducted a detailed study of such locations. Experts suggested detailed geological and other studies to identify any risks or problems in building such projects in the region. The Water and Energy Commission (WEC) under the Ministry of Water Resources identified such projects and had put forth this idea to the authorities concerned and stakeholders some four years ago, according to Regmee. Building storage projects in the hills is feasible because such areas would not be densely populated and eventual resettlement costs would be significantly lower in comparison to the Tarai plains. The idea is widely practised in other countries and has become common in China, according to Pandey. “The idea has been broadly discussed among engineers and other experts and they have taken it positively but we have not fully succeeded in convincing the policy makers so far,” he said. Pandey points out the immediate need of a river basin management policy to regulate projects dependent on a single storage dam and other related issues. The cost and time factors in constructing storage dams would be significantly lower compared to building a complete storage-type hydro-power project, the experts said.
Published on 2009-05-14 06:00:00 http://www.myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_details&news_id=5011