The photo is sourced from thehimalayantimes.com
The new HPP is a run-of-river hydropower plant with a key benefit of low emissions throughout the life cycle of power generation. Such HPPs do not require artificial reservoirs, which in the first years of operation are the emitters of greenhouse gases due to decomposition of organic substances that were previously on land. The 30.8 billion Nepalese rupee (about $230 million) HPP will be able to generate 984 GWh of electricity, equivalent to a third of Nepal’s generation by all types of sources in 2021 (3.1 TWh, according to the Ember Research Centre data).
A 63 km high voltage transmission line will connect the HPP and the Naya Himti substation. The project will, thereby, bring Nepal closer to full electrification: in the cities of Nepal in 2020, 94% of households were connected to the general grid, and in villages – 89%. The new plant will also solidify the dominance of HPPs in the Nepalese power industry: hydropower in the country accounted for 97% of generation mix in 2021, while the wind, solar and biomass generators accounted for only 3%. Dominance of HPPs is largely due to Nepal’s landscape peculiarities, over 85% of which is mountains.
The mountain landscape is also characteristic for most regions of the Russian North Caucasus, which in recent years has been turning into a major hydropower hub. RusHydro is currently building four small HPPs in the region: two Krasnogorsk HPPs (with a capacity of 24.9 MW each) in Karachay-Cherkessia, the Cherekskaya HPP (23.4 MW) in Kabardino-Balkaria and the Tower HPP (10 MW) in Chechnya. At the same time, three more plants – Verkhnebaksanskaya HPP (23.2 MW) in Kabardino-Balkaria, Nikhaloiskaya HPP (23 MW) in Chechnya and Mogokhskaya HPP (49.8 MW) in Dagestan are currently at the design stage.
