Climate Change: Uncertainty for Hydropower Development in  Nepal

Pathak, Mahesh

doi:10.3126/hn.v6i0.4190

Cited by 12 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…Among others, Gautam et al [26] suggested that hydropower plants in the Himalayas will suffer increasingly from climate change henceforth, especially those relying heavily upon the buffering of high altitude snow/ice reservoirs. Pathak [88] put forward that the increasing trend of glacial retreat, the variability of temperature, and precipitation may impact water resources and hydropower development in Nepal. Decreased runoff may affect hydropower development, but there is large uncertainty about future spatial variability of climate drivers.…”

Section: Potentially Modified Hydropower Potential Under Climate Changementioning

confidence: 99%

Hydropower Potential of Run of River Schemes in the Himalayas under Climate Change: A Case Study in the Dudh Koshi Basin of Nepal

Bocchiola

Manara

Mereu

2020

Water

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In spite of the very large hydropower potential given from the melting snow and ice of Himalayas, Nepal’s population has little hydropower production. The high use of fossil fuels and biomasses results in measurable air pollution, even in the mountain areas. Hydropower planning and implementation, in the face of the changing climate, is therefore paramount important. We focus here on Nepal, and particularly on the Dudh Koshi river basin, with a population of ca. 170,000 people, within an area with large potential for hydropower production. Our main objectives are to (i) preliminarily design a local hydropower grid based on a distributed run of river ROR scheme, and (ii) verify the resilience of the grid against modified hydrology under perspective climate change, until the end of the century. To do so, we set up and tune the Poli-Hydro semi-distributed glacio-hydrological model, mimicking the complex hydrology of the area. We then modify a state of the art algorithm to develop and exploit a heuristic, resource-demand based model, called Poli-ROR. We use Poli-ROR to assess the (optimal) distribution of a number of ROR hydropower stations along the river network, and the structure of the local mini-grids. We then use downscaled outputs from three general circulation models GCMs (RCPs 2.6, 4.5, 8.5) from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change IPCC AR5, to assess the performance of the system under future modified hydrological conditions. We find that our proposed method is efficient in shaping ROR systems, with the target of the largest possible coverage (93%), and of the least price (0.068 € kWh−1 on average). We demonstrate also that under the projected hydrological regimes until 2100, worse conditions than now may occur, especially for plants with small drainage areas. Days with energy shortage may reach up to nf = 38 per year on average (against nf = 24 now), while the maximum daily energy deficit may reach as high as edef% = 40% (against edef% = 20% now). We demonstrate that our originally proposed method for ROR grid design may represent a major contribution towards the proper development of distributed hydropower production in the area. Our results may contribute to improve energy supply, and living conditions within the Dudh Koshi river. It is likely that our approach may be applied in Nepal generally. Impending climate change may require adaptation in time, including the use of other sources which are as clean as possible, to limit pollution. Our Poli-ROR method for grid optimization may be of use for water managers, and scientists with an interest in the design of optimal hydropower schemes in topographically complex catchments.

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Section: Potentially Modified Hydropower Potential Under Climate Changementioning

confidence: 99%

Hydropower Potential of Run of River Schemes in the Himalayas under Climate Change: A Case Study in the Dudh Koshi Basin of Nepal

Bocchiola

Manara

Mereu

2020

Water

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“…Some policies, such as discouraging Furthermore, the commitment to release at least ten percent of the minimum monthly average discharge of the river and protection of biodiversity are the other strengths of the HDP-2001. With respect to the climate change induced threats that can jeopardize the sustainability of hydropower in Nepal, this regulation is a robust policy measure to mitigate such practices (Pathak, 2011).…”

Section: Strengthsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A SWOT Analysis of Nepalese Hydropower Policy

Rana

2020

Adv. J Social Sci.

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Hydropower, in which Nepal has comparative advantage, has a potential to contribute to Nepal’s energy security and sustainable development. The government of Nepal enacted the Hydropower Development Policy in 2001 (HDP-2001) as an overarching policy to coordinate all policies forthcoming in this sector. This paper has critically analysed HDP-2001 by applying the Ecosystem services-based Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threat (SWOT) technique. The paper has evaluated peer-reviewed scholarly articles, secondary data, and government publications available in public domain. The strengths and weaknesses of the policy were analysed by applying seven specific indicators. The research indicates that HDP-2001 has been successful in overcoming some of the pertinent challenges in Nepalese hydroelectric industry, however, it also faces several limitations on account of climate change, economic dislocations, effective monitoring, ensuring competitiveness, delivering fair price to the consumers, and institutional governance issues. Designing a practical mitigation plan, while being aware of its limitations, could be helpful in minimizing the impact of these exogenous factors.

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“…For example, landslides, extreme floods, glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) and landslide-dam outburst floods can have a direct impact on hydropower projects in many ways. On the other hand, the impact of climate change on water resources, causing the shrinkage of glaciers, the expansion of glacial lakes, and fluctuations in runoff is a serious concern, especially in mountainous regions [6][7][8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Role of Glaciers in Hydropower Production in Nepal

Shakti

Pun

Talchabhadel³

et al. 2021

jaes

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Nepal is a mountainous country rich in water resources, with huge potential for hydropower generation. The Department of Electricity Development (DoED), which sits within the Nepalese Ministry of Energy, has published Guidelines for Study of Hydropower Projects to set out the official standards for the detailed study of hydropower projects in Nepal. The guide is regularly revised, with the latest revision having taken place in 2018, in order to ensure the long-term sustainability of the projects. Among the key issues considered are the linkages between glaciers and hydropower projects in Nepal under a changing environment. The formation of new glacial lakes and the potential for glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) are recent challenges in the Himalayan region. As such, any change impacting these processes may have serious consequences on hydropower projects or cause severe damage to these projects across the country, whether they are in the planning phase, under construction, or completed. This paper aims to make the connection between the status of hydropower projects in Nepal and the state of glaciers in the Himalayas, and suggests that advanced studies on glacial lakes and GLOFs are needed to ensure the long-term sustainability of hydropower projects under changing climate.

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Climate Change: Uncertainty for Hydropower Development in Nepal

Cited by 12 publications

References 4 publications

Hydropower Potential of Run of River Schemes in the Himalayas under Climate Change: A Case Study in the Dudh Koshi Basin of Nepal

Hydropower Potential of Run of River Schemes in the Himalayas under Climate Change: A Case Study in the Dudh Koshi Basin of Nepal

A SWOT Analysis of Nepalese Hydropower Policy

The Role of Glaciers in Hydropower Production in Nepal

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