A Pre-Feasibility Study of Super Iwa Khola Small Hydropower Project

TABLE OF CONTENTS

COPYRIGHT ………………………………………………………………………………… I
PREFACE ……………………………………………………………………………………. II
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS …………………………………………………………………. III
ABSTRACT …………………………………………………………………………………. IV
SALIENT FEATURES ………………………………………………………………………. V
ABBREVIATIONS ………………………………………………………………………… VII
1. INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................................3
1.1 BACKGROUND.............................................................................................................3
1.2 OBJECTIVES OF STUDY.............................................................................................4
1.3 SCOPE OF PROJECT.....................................................................................................5
1.4 APPROACH METHODOLOGY....................................................................................6
1.4.1 DESK STUDY.......................................................................................................6
1.4.2 HYDROLOGICAL STUDY.................................................................................6
1.5 LITERATURE REVIEW/GUIDELINES.......................................................................6
2. DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT AREA............................................................................7
2.1 TYPE OF PROJECT.......................................................................................................7
2.2 LOCATION OF PROJECT SITE...................................................................................7
2.3 ACCESSIBILITY............................................................................................................8
2.4 TOPOGRAPHY AND BASIN PHYSIOGRAPHY........................................................8
2.5 CLIMATE CHARACTERISTICS..................................................................................8
2.6 AVAILABILITY OF CONSTRUCTION MATERIAL.................................................8
3. HYDROLOGICAL ANALYSIS..............................................................................................9
3.1 OBJECTIVES..................................................................................................................9
3.2 DRAINAGE AREA CHARACTERISTICS...................................................................9
3.3 HYDROLOGICAL AND METEOROLOGICAL DATA..............................................9
3.4 LONG TERM STREAM FLOW ANALYSIS..............................................................10
3.5 FLOOD FLOW ANALYSIS.........................................................................................10
4. PROJECT DESCRIPTION AND DESIGN...........................................................................15
4.1 PROJECT LAYOUT.....................................................................................................15
4.2 DESIGN OF HYDRAULIC STRUCTURES...............................................................15
4.2.1 HEADWORK......................................................................................................15
4.2.2 SETTLING BASIN.............................................................................................15
4.2.3 TUNNEL.............................................................................................................16
4.2.4 SURGE TANK AND PENSTOCK.....................................................................16
 4.2.5 TURBINE............................................................................................................16
4.2.6 POWER HOUSE.................................................................................................16
5. ECONOMIC ANALYSIS.......................................................................................................17
6. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS.................................................................19
APPENDIX-A
APPENDIX-B
APPENDIX-C

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1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND
Nepal is endowed with precious water resources that accounts for an economical potential of
43000 MW (National Water Plan 2005), of which only less than 1.5% has been harnessed so
far. The perennial nature of rivers and steep gradients of country’s topography provide an ideal
condition for the development of hydroelectric projects. National Water Plan (2005), has
recognized that water is one of the principal physical resources that can play a major role in
enhancing the pace of overall development of Nepal. Nevertheless, despite serious efforts by
concerned agencies, development of such hydroelectric projects has not gained sufficient
speed, principally due to insufficient funds and basic infrastructure facilities. As a result, Nepal
is suffering from heavy load shedding and acute shortage of electricity which is badly affecting
people’s daily life in general, and country’s development activities and industrial growth in
particular. NEA’s latest peak load forecast for integrated national power system (INPS) for the
period 2004‐2020 shows that peak load demand in the system could grow by 8% every year
based on current GDP growth of 4%.

Electricity production from hydropower has been the first renewable source used to generate
electricity. Hydropower electricity is environment friendly - no pollution in air or in land, and,
is also the most efficient method of all. Hydropower is the major source of Electricity in Nepal.
World's 20% of electricity is by Hydropower. In contrary, 96% of electricity in Nepal is by
Hydropower. It shows that Nepal has a huge potential of hydropower. The hydropower
development has been seriously affected by the inefficiency, politicization and mismanagement
in state owned electricity utility (Nepal Electricity Corporation/NEA) as well as in its line
ministry.

Hydropower uses the power of water to produce energy. Flowing water has three types of
energy heads, namely- potential head, pressure head, and kinetic head. While flowing, one type
of energy head can be increased at the cost of others depending on conditions. The running
water with one or a combination of more than one types of energy heads causes spinning of a
turbine that runs generator, which produces electricity.

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Some half century ago, water resources expert Dr. Hari Man Shrestha conducted an
academic research for his Ph.D. degree in Russia, which revealed that theoretically Nepal could
generate 83,000 megawatts hydropower, of which 42,000 megawatts was economically and
technically feasible. However, a recent study conducted by the team of Institute of Engineering,
Tribhuvan University, Nepal led by Prof. Dr. Narendra Man Shakya has shown that Nepal has
a total potential to generate 53,000 megawatts of hydropower in Nepal. Despite the vast
amount of source, the development of hydropower that started some hundred years ago has not
been very encouraging, averaging about roughly 6 MW per year despite being touted of its
theoretical potential.

The annual peak power demand of Integrated Nepal Power System (INPS) was 946.10 MW in
2011. There is a power deficit in the country resulting in daily load shedding (the situation
improving in the wet season and becoming bad in the dry season).The electricity demand has
been increasing in Nepal by about 7-9% per year, and only about 40 % of population has access
to electricity through the grid and off grid system. Most of the power plants are run- of-river
type with energy available in excess of the in-country demand during the monsoon season and
deficit during the dry season. This imbalance clearly stresses the need for storage projects.

Hydropower projects of diverse capacities occupy a prominent position in the process of

infrastructure building of the country. For this reason, the hydropower projects need to be cost
effective, sustainable, environmentally and socially sound. Hence, the design of each
component of a hydropower project demands meticulous planning, optimization and a
judicious selection of the relevant design parameters, particularly in view of country's
topography, geology and nature of highly sediment laden monsoon rivers. So, the aim of this
project is to provide theoretical understanding and practical insights to planning and
designing of small hydropower plants. This project entitled “Pre-feasibility study and
Hydrological Analysis of Super Iwa Khola hydropower project” is the one prepared by a group
of six students of 072 batch in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the bachelor’s degree in
civil engineering.

1.2 OBJECTIVES OF STUDY

Nepal has high hydropower potential. If we could trap even some percentage of the total
hydropower potential of Nepal, it would be very much beneficial for the national development.
Due to this prospect, the country has enormous scope of expertise in hydropower sector. The

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objective of this project is not only to analyze and design the suitable hydropower project
effectively and efficiently but also to tackle the practical problems that arise according the field
conditions and to enhance the skill of the engineering.

The major objectives of offering Small Hydropower Project as project work for BE students in
the final year are:-

 To identify the possible hydropower sites for development in the given river basin
catchments and find out the various alternatives sites for development.
 To work out a comparison chart based on head, flow, length etc. for the various sites as
identified on the map.
 To choose a viable site from comparison list and prepare detail scheme layouts and
estimates of the project on a feasibility level.
 To analyze existing hydrological and meteorological data.
 To prepare and ecological, environment and sociological impact report of the
project and to identify any harmful impacts of the project based on the desk study.
 To prepare the layouts of the project at the feasibility level.
 To gain the skill on the design of hydropower projects.
 To familiarize the practical problems likely to face while designing and undertaking
such projects.
 To be familiar with the designing methods of different components of a hydropower
projects.
 To prepare a volume of comprehensive project report.

1.3 SCOPE OF PROJECT

The project is the pre-feasibility study of Super Iwa Khola Small Hydropower Project carried
out as the partial fulfillment of the final year in Bachelor of Civil Engineering.

Due to contracted semester, it could not become possible to carry out the detailed surveying
work of the project work. There are two gauging stations in Taplejung district. This compelled
us to use various indirect methods for hydrological analysis. The detailing of the headwork site
i.e. topographic map, cross sections of the River, etc. are provided by our supervisor Assit.
Prof. Saraswati Thapa.

Attempts were made to design various components accurately but this may not fulfill all the
design criteria due to the lack of available time and resources.

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Hydropower is one of the much diversified natures of Civil Engineering projects. There is no
unified guideline. The designs were carried out referring several materials. Hence, the outputs
may not fulfill all the standards.

1.4 APPROACH METHODOLOGY

To fulfill the above objective of the project certain methodologies are adopted. Such
methodologies are: desk study, reconnaissance, review of previous study, field survey and
investigations, data analysis, hydrology analysis, topographic mapping.

1.4.1 DESK STUDY

Super Iwa Khola hydropower is the provided site for the project study. Under this
phase, collection and review of topographical map (1:25000), available reports,
guidelines, secondary data and information were carried out. Available reports were
evaluated.

1.4.2 HYDROLOGICAL STUDY

Hydrological study of the site was done. The calculation and evaluation of flood
discharge for different return period were carried out also long term and low flow
analysis was done. Hydrological and Meteorological data were provided from
Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, Babahmahal.

1.5 LITERATURE REVIEW/GUIDELINES

A hydropower system constitutes of several components which are to be brought into
physical form by the assistance of some Standards and Norms suitable for that situation and
location. Guidelines for a hydropower system are not identical for all types of system. Even
two similar small hydropower systems in different circumstances cannot have the same types
of guidelines. Some factors that bring about difference in the selection of guidelines are- flow
of river, sediment concentration, terrain, soil type, topography, geology etc.
“Department of Electricity Development (DoED) 2006 Gov. of Nepal”, “GIZ2005”, “European
Small Hydropower Association (ESHA) 2004”, “Practical Action Nepal”, “Indian Guidelines
2011, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, India” etc. are the guidelines that are
available in the area of development of medium and small hydropower plants in Nepal.
These guidelines are prepared by different bodies of national government related to
hydropower development and electricity generation as well as international organizations
related to this field. Owing to the earlier mentioned factors, DoED Guidelines and GIZ
Guidelines are mostly used ones in our country.

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As much as our practice, study, knowledge and findings, we describe about different
methods for hydrological analysis. To make the project economical, sustainable, and efficient
optimization of alternatives are essential. Books and guidelines, taken are represented in
references.

2. DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT AREA

2.1 TYPE OF PROJECT

The proposed “Super Iwa Khola Small Hydropower Project” is ROR type. It would be High
head and Low discharge project which has a proposed 4.967 MW installed capacity. Since the
installed capacity lies in the region of 1-25 MW, it is a Small Hydropower Project as suggested
by Nepali practice.

2.2 LOCATION OF PROJECT SITE

The proposed “Super Iwa Khola Small Hydropower Project” is to be constructed on Super Iwa
Khola located in Taplejung district in the Province No. 1 of Nepal. The proposed headworks lie
at the longitude 87°59'23.98"E and latitude 27°19'24.03"N. This river is in boulder stage. The
proposed catchment area of headworks site is 58.93 sq.km.

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 Fig1: Catchment Area Showing Headworks

2.3 ACCESSIBILITY
The intake site is located in between Tharpu VDC, Panchthar and Sablankhu VDC, Taplejung.
Headworks is located in Sablankhu, Taplejung. No direct road linkage exists upto the
headworks. The proposed powerhouse also lies in Sablankhu.

2.4 TOPOGRAPHY AND BASIN PHYSIOGRAPHY

Iwa River is the boarder river of Panchthar and Talejung districts. Iwa River is the main
tributary of Kabeli River that originates from the base of Kanchanjunga Himalayan range. It is
a perennial river with snow basin. Its catchment is in hilly and mountainous region thus has
contribution of snow for its discharge pattern.

The catchment area of Super Iwa Khola is elongated in North-south direction. The catchment
area of Super Iwa Khola at proposed headwork site is 58.93 sq.km as measured on the 1:25000
scale topographical maps published by Survey Department, GoN.

Catchment area below 5000m elevation = 58.93 sq.km

Catchment area below 3000m elevation = 20.11 sq.km

Catchment area above 3000m elevation = 38.83 sq.km

The upper reach of the basin is mainly covered by fairly dense mixed forest and dense mixed
forest. Very small portion is agriculture land.

Basin lies in the longitude 87°59'23.98"E and latitude 27°19'24.03"N.

2.5 CLIMATE CHARACTERISTICS

Its basin has relatively non uniform climatic condition and very much affected by change in
elevation. Both snow and precipitation characteristics are prevailing factor for its discharge
pattern. Maximum altitude that the catchment has gained is about 4627.56 m elevation.

2.6 AVAILABILITY OF CONSTRUCTION MATERIAL

Local construction materials such as stones, aggregate are available on the construction site.
Sand is also found around project area. Other construction material has to be brought from
nearby Bazaar.

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3. HYDROLOGICAL ANALYSIS

As Hydropower is the generation of electricity from water, there should be done a detailed
hydrological study. In prefeasibility study of any hydropower project, it is necessary to have
long term historical data of rainfall, flow data in the whole catchment. The longer the
hydrological record, the more reliable is the estimation of design parameter for the project. For
Super Iwa Khola Small Hydropower project, we have used the gauging stations which are
located in Eastern Nepal.
3.1 OBJECTIVES
Hydrological investigations performed for design of headworks of run-of-river hydropower
projects were aimed at achieving the following objectives:
1. Providing input for the selection of return period for inflow design flood,
construction diversion flood and low flows.
2. Developing flow duration curves mean monthly hydrographs, rating curves and water
surface profiles at the headworks.
3.2 DRAINAGE AREA CHARACTERISTICS
Iwa River is the boarder river of Panchthar and Talejung districts. Iwa River is the main
tributary of Kabeli River that originates from the base of Kanchanjunga Himalayan range.
It is a perennial river with snow basin. Its catchment is in hilly and mountainous region
thus has contribution of snow for its discharge pattern.
The catchment area of Super Iwa Khola is elongated in North-south direction. The
catchment area of Super Iwa Khola at proposed headwork site is 58.93 sq.km as measured on
the 1:25000 scale topographical maps published by Survey Department, GoN.
Information on the physiographic characteristics of the drainage area, such as the latitude,
altitude, area and shape of the basin, length of main channel, gradient of channel and basin,
etc., were derived from topographic maps 1:25,000.These data were used in the calculation of
various hydrological parameters.
3.3 HYDROLOGICAL AND METEOROLOGICAL DATA
Hydro-meteorological data from the hydrological and meteorological stations existing in and
around the river basin were obtained from publications of the Department of Hydrology and
Meteorology (DHM), GoN.

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3.4 LONG TERM STREAM FLOW ANALYSIS
The long term flow analysis is carried out to obtain the average discharge that will be
available for us in the river for the useful life of the project .This analysis provides us with
the average monthly discharge and then these values can be used to obtain the flow
duration curve and design discharge of the project.

Flow duration curve

It is simply obtained by plotting the discharge as ordinate and the percentage of
time duration for which that magnitude or more is available as abscissa. The
monthly flow along with Flow duration curve is shown in Appendix A.

3.5 FLOOD FLOW ANALYSIS

In hydropower projects, high floods are required to be computed for designing the
headwork structures as well as the powerhouse complex. Flood hydrology is analyzed in
two parts – design floods for the design of headworks and other hydraulic structures and
construction floods for diversion of flood during construction period.
The flood flow analysis is carried out to obtain the worst flood that can occur during the 100
year time so that we can design the structures accordingly for their safety and safety of the
whole project.

Method for Flood Flow Analysis

A flood is an unusually high stage in a river, normally the level at which the river
overflows its banks and inundates the adjoining area. At a given location in a stream,
flood peaks vary from year to year and their magnitude constitutes a hydrologic series
which enable one to assign a frequency to a given flood-peak value. In the design of
practically all hydraulic structures the peak flow that can be expected with an assigned
frequency (Ex: 1 in 100 years) is of primary importance to adequately proportion the
structure to accommodate its effect. The design of weir, barrage, culvert, spillways for
dams and estimation of scour at hydraulic structure are some examples wherein flood-
peak values are required.

There are various methods of flood analysis. We generally classify them into two broad
groups namely:
A. For Ungauged Basin:
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 The various method for flood analysis for ungauged basin are as follows:
a. WECS/DHM
b. Rational Method
c. Snyder’s Method
d. B. D. Richard’s Method
e. Modified Dicken’s Method
f. Fuller’s Method
B. For Gauged Basin:
The various method for flood analysis for gauged basin are as follows:
a. Gumbel’s Method
b. Log Pearson Type III
c. Exponential distribution (Poisson type)
A. For Ungauged basins
Ungauged basins are the basin which do not consists of any measuring instruments in it and
flood flow analysis is done by empirical method based on catchment area, topography,
geological conditions, etc. Following are some of the methods used:
Regional method:
Following are the regional method commonly adopted in Nepal:
a. WECS/DHM method (Water and Energy Commission Secretariats)
The WECS/DHM method (WECS/DHM, 1990) may be used for flood prediction for
small hydropower project located in ungauged basins of Nepal. Using this method, 2-
year (medium flood) and 100-year floods for maximum daily and maximum
instantaneous flood peaks shall be computed from regression equations of the form:
Qaby= α(A3000 + 1)β
α = 1.8767 for 2 years
= 14.63 for 100 years
β = 0.8783 for 2 years
= 0.7342 for 100 years

2
A3000 = Basin area km below 3000 m elevation

For other return periods QT = exp(lnQ2+ σS)

Where,
3
QT = other flood for T year return period in m /s

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 σ = ln ( Q100
Q2 )
/2.32

S = standard normal variate.

Table 3.1 : Standard deviation of the natural logarithms return periods
Return Period 2 5 10 20 50 100 200 1000
S 0 0.84 1.202 1.645 2.054 2.326 2.576 3.09
2

For Small Polygon:

Return
2 5 10 20 50 100 200 500 1000
Period
Flood
Discharge 10.04 19.12 26.79 35.59 48.52 59.44 72.41 91.43 107.41
(m3/s)

For Large Polygon:

Return
2 5 10 20 50 100 200 500 1000
Period
Flood
Discharge 20.67 37.72 51.68 67.36 89.96 108.72 130.73 162.51 188.88
(m3/s)

Empirical Methods
Empirical formulae shall be used only when a more accurate method for flood
prediction cannot be applied because of lack of data. For flood prediction in ungauged
basins of Nepal, the empirical formulae discussed in the following sections may be
used with great caution and proper justification.

Empirical formulae can be epitomized as

Qp= f(A)

Below are some of the empirical methods used for the computation of flood flow:
b. Modified Dicken’s Method
3
Using Dicken’s method, the T year Flood discharge QT in m /s shall be determined as
0.7
QT =CA

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 Where;
2
A is the total basin area in km and CT the modified Dicken‟s constant proposed by the
Irrigation Research Institute, Roorkee, India, based on frequency studies on Himalayan
rivers.

This constant shall be computed as

CT = 2.342 log(0.6T) log (1185/p) + 4
p = 100(a+6)/(A+a)
2
where, a is the perpetual snow area in km and T is return period in years.

c. Fuller’s Method
Although developed for basins in the United States of America, Fuller’s may be
used to estimate food discharges in the ungauged basins of Nepal for comparisons
purposes.
3
Using this method, the maximum instantaneous flood discharge Qmax in m /s shall be
estimated as:
−0.3
A
Qmax = QT[1 + 2
2.59( ) ]

3
Where QT is the maximum 24 hour flood with frequency once in T years in m /s and A
is the basin area in sq. km. QT shall be given by

QT = Qav
3
In which Qav is the yearly average 24 hour flood over a number of years, in m /s, given
by
0.8
Qav=CfA
Where Cf is Fuller’s coefficient varying between 0.18 to 1.88. For Nepal, Cf may be
taken as the average of those values, i.e. equal to 1.03.

B. For Gauged River Basin (GRB)

a. Gumbel Extreme Value Distribution
For return period T, predicted flood flow is given by:
X t = X́+ K σ n−1
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 Where, K = frequency factor, expressed as,
Y t − ý n
K=
Sn
ý n = reduced mean, a function of sample size N
Sn = reduced standard deviation, a function of sample size N
Yt = Reduced Variate = -ln(ln(T/(T-1)))
b. Log Pearson Type III distribution
Standard deviation of Z-variate samples σ z= √ ∑ ¿¿ ¿ ¿

N ∑ (z− ź )3
Coefficient of skewness of variate Z : C s=
( N−1 ) ( N −2)σ z3
For Z- Series, for any recurrence interval T,
ZT = ź + Kzσ z
Kz = Frequency Factor which depends upon recurrence interval and coefficient of
skewness Cs.
XT = antilog(ZT) , is the peak flood for return period T years.

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4. PROJECT DESCRIPTION AND DESIGN

4.1 PROJECT LAYOUT

The Super Iwa Khola Hydropower Project is a simple run-of-river scheme. The headwork site
is proposed to be located in between Tharpu VDC, Panchthar and Sablankhu VDC, Taplejung.
Headworks is located in Sablankhu, Taplejung.
The detailed design of the project has been attached in the Appendix-B and the detailed
drawings have been attached in the Appendix-C of the project report.

4.2 DESIGN OF HYDRAULIC STRUCTURES

4.2.1 HEADWORK
There are two proposed weir in this project; small weir in small river and large weir in Iwa
Khola river. The small weir is vertical drop weir of length 10 m. with a top width and bottom
width of crest about 0.1 m and 0.6 m. The weir has maximum floor thickness of 0.7m at d/s
side. The depth of u/s pile is 2.58m from river bed level with u/s and d/s cutoff of 1 and 1.5m.
Its calculation is shown in Appendix-B. The Undersluice portion for small river has a length of
3m with depth of u/s pile 1.8m and u/s and d/s cutoff of 1m and 1.5m. Its thickness of d/s floor
is about 1m. Its calculation is shown in Appendix-B. The design of small intake is given in
Appendix-B.

Similarly, the large weir in Iwa Khola is sloping glacis weir of length 15m and undersluce of
length 4m. Its detailed calculation is shown in Appendix-B. and Appendix B. The height of
weir is adopted as 1m and crest shutter of 0.5m with gate opening of 0.13m. The detail design
is presented in Appendix-B.

4.2.2 SETTLING BASIN

The settling basin is located on the right bank of the Iwa River. The water through the large
intake discharges into Settling Basin through headrace canal having a provision for escape
which spills out excess discharge and only conveys design discharge to the Settling Basin
where Particle with size less than 0.2mm are settled by the settling basin, having total length of
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21m two bays are provided each of 4.5 width. A total depth of the basin is 3.55m. Details of the
calculation are shown in Appendix-B.

4.2.3 TUNNEL
About 1572 m long of diameter 2 meter passes through the Right Bank Hill of Iwa River at a
uniform slope of 1 in 750and connects to the surge tank. The optimization of tunnel is shown in
Appendix-B.

4.2.4 SURGE TANK AND PENSTOCK

An underground surge tank and penstock is recommended for this scheme. A 7.85 high surge
tank with a diameter of 5 m is located at the right bank of Iwa river. The surge tank site is
geologically sound and stable and is safe under earthquake as well. The location of surge tank
site is 27°19'33.98"N and 87°59'20.09"E. The detailed design of surge tank is shown in
Appendix-B. Penstock of diameter 1.5 of uniform thickness 13.2 millimeters and length of 394
m is provided connecting the surge tank to the power house which is bifurcated at the entrance
of power house. The details of the penstock optimization and design is shown in Appendix-B.

4.2.5 TURBINE
The turbine was selected on the basis of head and discharge graph provided in Appendix-B.
Two units of pelton turbine are provided. The overall efficiency of the pelton turbine provided
is 85 %. The details of the calculations are illustrated in Appendix B.

4.2.6 POWER HOUSE

Surface power house has been proposed for the project. It lies on the right bank of Iwa Khola.
The location of powerhouse site is 27°19'24.03"N and 87°59'23.98"E and the turbine axis level
lies at an elevation of 1854m. The power house if 27m long, 9m wide and 7m high.

The design of power house is shown in Appendix B.

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5. ECONOMIC ANALYSIS

The economic analysis forms a criterion for the selection of alternatives. For making the
decision of either constructing or not of the alternative, economic viability is one of the
major criteria. The revenue earned from the project has to be assessed based on the Project’s
available energy and the anticipated rate of sales of power. These are equated against the
recurring costs, which consists mainly of the interest on investment, depreciation of plant
and equipment, operation and maintenance expenses, to arrive at the income surpluses. A
rate of Rs 4.8 per KWhr and Rs 8.4 per KWhr as suggested by Nepal
Electricity Authority (NEA) has been utilized to perform the economic analysis in the
report.
Economic analyses rely on four types of tests, all of which employ the cash flow discounting
technique. The discounting of the cost and benefit flows of a project is the only way to give
proper recognition to the time value of money. The technique can briefly be summarized as
the calculation of the present value of future costs and benefits at a given discount (interest)
rate.

(i) The economic Internal Rate of Return (EIRR) i.e. the interest rate which equalizes
the present values of the benefits and cost streams of over the life of the project.
(ii) The Benefit Cost ratio (B/C ratio) a comparison of the present value of benefits to
the costs based on an assumed test rate of discount and
(iii) The Net Present Value (NPV) or the difference in present value of benefits and
costs, also based on an assumed discount rate.
(iv) The Payback Period method i.e. the time for which the project finally meets the
breakeven point and starts making profit for the rest of the design life.

Following four methods are used for economic analysis.

i) Economic Internal Rate of Return (IRR):

The interest rate which equalizes the present values of benefits and cost streams over

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 the life of the project. The IRR value is calculated as 34.14%, i.e. the interest rate of
the project should be greater than MARR which is taken as 12 % for the project to be
feasible.

ii) Benefit Cost Ratio (B/C ratio)

It is the ratio of benefit to cost in present value of future cost or future value of
present cost or in annuity. B/C ratio of Super Iwa Khola Hydropower project is 1.62.

iii) Net Present Value

The net present value calculated is 284596457, which is greater than zero. Since
this is greater than zero, it means the project is in benefit.

iv) Payback Period

It is the time for return of capital investment. The payback period of the project 9
years.

Economic Summary of Project:

Project life period = 30 years
Total cost of the project = NRs 10.3 Billion
Annual Income = 198.409 Million
Total annual operation and maintenance cost = NRs. 1743370
Net Annual Income of the project = NRs. 198409748.06

The detail computations of costing, estimating and economic analysis is done in Appendix- C.

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6. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

CONCLUSIONS
Super Iwa Khola Hydropower Project, as indicated by present level of study, is attractive
project from technical, economic and environmental aspects. Even though construction
works seem to be difficult due to the remoteness of site, the location of headwork site,
powerhouse site and alignment of water conveyance system is favorable from geological
point of view. Being a high head and low discharge plant, the project will be cheap in
construction.
With negligible impact on physical, biological and aquatic life and limited interference of
human life, the project is environment friendly. With the Benefit/Cost ratio of 1.62, and
internal rate of return on equity of 34.14%, the project is financially very attractive.

RECOMMENDATIONS
Based on the above conclusion, it is recommended that the project should be implemented
for the development of energy sector in Nepal. However, before the project is taken up for
constructions, following additional works are recommended to be performed to avoid any
unexpected cost and time overrun. To strengthen the hydrological parameters, data collection
and processing should be continued. The geological/geotechnical investigation was mainly
limited to surface geological exploration. Environment Impact Assessment will be needed to
prepare mitigation measures in project affected area.
An access road to the Project is of immediate importance for the overall implementation of
the Project. Therefore, necessary steps must be undertaken to advance the access road
studies to a detailed design level. Further, the concerned agencies should start the
implementation of the access road at the earliest such that it shall be ready at the time of
initiation of civil construction works of the main hydroelectric project.
Once the Power Purchase Agreement is made, financial arrangement could be made with
local finance companies to complete this project in time.

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