Syange Mini Hydro Electric Project (SMHP)

Summary

The Syange Mini-hydroelectric Project is located on the right bank of Marsyangdi River along the popular trekking route to Manang. The entire project lies within the Taghring Village Development Committee of Lamjung District, Western Development Region, Nepal.

The Syange Mini-hydroelectric Project is a run-of- the-river type scheme, Syange River being its source. The installed capacity of the plant is 183kW. The headworks consist of a gabion weir, which diverts the design flow of 640 l/s through a concrete orifice intake, which conveys the flow to the intake canal. The excess flow is spilled through the spillway incorporated in the intake canal and the rest of the flow enters the settling basin, which also serves as a forebay. The settling basin is of 2 m width and 11 m overall length. The design turbine discharge of 570 l/s then enters the penstock. Saddle piers at regular intervals of 4m and six numbers of anchor blocks at the blends support the penstock pipe which is 500mm in diameter and 115m long..

The penstock pipe conveys the flow to the cross flow turbine, which is directly coupled to an induction generator. The electricity generated is transmitted through a 11kV line to the national grid.

The gross and the net head of the scheme are 46m and 43m respectively. Commercial generation from this project was started in January 2002.

Project Salient Features

1 Introduction
Lamjung Electricity Development Company (LEDCO) carried out the detail feasibility study of the Syange Mini-hydroelectric Project (SMHP). The purpose of the study was to provide an updated financial and technical assessment of this project using a grid connection and selling power to the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA). The SMHP is developed as a locally owned grid connected mini hydro. The installed capacity of the project is 183 kW. The owners of the existing 3 kW scheme on the Syange River along with other members of the community have invested in developing the scheme. Likewise the three neighboring VDCs of the area have become part owners of the project. LEDCO provided the engineering and technical support necessary to develop the scheme.

The participation thus formed proved to be a strong social and commercial partnership. The grass root support from the VDCs and the individuals provided the local support whereas LEDCO's involvement guaranteed sound technical assistance when required. A new company called Syange Electricity Company (P) Ltd. was established with all the interested partners holding some commercial interest in the company.The   Syange project is the first of its kind in Nepal. Not only it is a private company owned by individuals and the VDCs of the neighbouring area but also the first mini-hydro power project of this size connected to the national grid.

The Nepal Electricity Authority in 1998 came out with policies to immediately buy power from schemes less than 1000 kW at rates that have been declared. The Syange Project now sells the energy generated to the grid at those rates.

1.1 Location
The village of Syange is in the Taghring VDC of Lamjung District. It is located on the popular tourist trekking route of the Annapurna Circuit. The village is approximately 4.5 km away from the 11 kV grid that has extended to the neighboring Bahun Danda VDC. Syange Bazaar is a small village located at latitude of 28⁰-15'/28⁰-30'N and longitude of 84⁰-25'E. The village lies on the right bank of Marsyangdi River within the boundary of ACAP. On the opposite bank of the Marsyangdi river lies Ghermu Phaat, a progressive and rapidly expanding village, which is part of Germu VDC. All the three VDCs are in the Lamjung district .
The project area is shown in Appendix A.

1.2 Access
The nearest road-head (black topped) to the project site is at Besisahar, the headquarter of Lamjung District. Besisahar is 40 km north of Dumre, which is a town on Prithvi Highway which connects Kathmandu with Pokhara. A seasonal road suitable for motor vehicles is extended to Khudi Bazaar. It takes 6 hours to reach Syange Bazar on foot from khudi. Mules take one day to reach Syange Bazaar from Besisahar and this mode of transport is cheaper compared to porters for bulk supply of goods.

2 Background

2.1 Market Summary
Located ideally on the popular trekking route to Manang, a currently the energy produced by SMHP is sold to NEA through a PPA signed between Syange Company and NEA.
2.2.1 Power Market in Nepal
Although Nepal is characterized as a hydro rich country, only a small portion of its total hydro capacity has been harnessed to produce hydroelectricity. At present the Integrated Nepal Power System (INPS) has a total installed capacity of about 610MW (Source NEA Fiscal Year 2003/2004 A year in Review) of which about 545 MW is generated from hydro resources. Of the hydropower plants only 92 MW (cascaded between Kulekhani I of 60 MW and Kulekhani II of 32 MW) is from storage plants and the rest is from run-of the river schemes. The annual energy generation is about 2380 GWh. The entire system has about a million consumers.
The NEA, in 1998 announced a policy to support the private sector of small hydropower developers. Due to this policy a number of mini hydropower plants have been constructed and are in the process of implementation.

For more information, please contact our ledco office in Kathmandu.
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