KATHMANDU: Nepal has a potential to generate 53,000 megawatts of hydropower, Prof Narendra Man Shakya, Water Resource Programme Coordinator at the Institute of Engineering, told this daily today.
According to Shakya, the estimate was based on the latest water discharge data available with the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, using Geographic Information System software.
Dr Raghu Nath Jha, a lecturer of water resource engineering, and his team was rigorously involved in the research. “Estimate depends on the type of model used. The study we conducted is based on a widely accepted methodology used in scientific water resource research, “claimed Shakya.
In late 1960s, water resources expert Dr Hari Man Shrestha conducted an academic research for doctorate in Russia, which revealed that theoretically Nepal could generate 83,000 megawatts hydropower, of which 42,000 megawatts was economically and technically viable.
“Hari Man Shrestha’s estimate was made at a time when very little river water discharge data was generated by few measuring stations. But the number of stations providing the data has increased, making our study more reliable,” added Shakya.
“Shrestha used average runoff water, which includes the flood water also, to come up with his estimate. But we have excluded the flood water,” said Shakya.
Ironically, Shrestha’s document is not available in any library. Nor is it with the Ministry of Energy that officially cites 83,000 megawatts as the hydropower potential of the nation.
“His document is not available here. We believed him when he said Nepal’s theoretical potential to generate hydropower is 83,000 megawatts,”said Kishore Thapa, Secretary, Water and Energy Commission Secretariat.
So far Nepal has generated only 0.7 per cent of Shrestha’s estimated 42,000 megawatts viable hydropower.
“We haven’t generated even one per cent of the estimated potential. First we should generate a few thousand megawatts then talk about our potential,” added Thapa
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