Poster presented at CoCooN Exchange Workshop (November 25-27, 2015), The Hague, the Netherlands, organized by Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the government of Netherlands and the International Institute of Social Studies.

1. Hydropower development in the context of climate
change: Exploring conflicts and fostering cooperation
across scales and boundaries in the Eastern Himalayas
(CoCooN-CCMCC Project)
CoCooN-Exchange, The Hague
Institute of Social Studies and Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Hari K. Shrestha
November 25-27, 2015
Conflict-less Hydropower Development

2. Site: Tamor Basin (Nepal) and Teesta Baisn (India)

3. Hewa Khola Flow Analysis Sites

4. Approximate HPP locations in Hewa Khola Basin, Tamor, Nepal

5. Hydropower Projects in Hewa Khola Watershed
Existing Projects
S.N. Projects Capacity
MW
River Promoter VDC/ District
1 Pheme
Khola
0.995 Pheme Khoranga Khola
Hydropower
Development
Company Pvt.Ltd
Panchthar
2 Phidim 0.24 Pheme NEA Panchthar
3 Middle
Pheme
0.15 Pheme BK Power Dev.
Company
Panchthar
Projects Under Construction
4 Hewa
Khola A
14.9 Hewa Panchthar
Power Company
P. Ltd
Bharapa, Nangeen,
Yanganam,
Panchthar
5 Lower
Hewa
21.6
(revised)
Hewa Mountain Hydro
Nepal P. Ltd.
Panchthar
Hydropower Projects in the vicinity of the Study Area

6. Hydropower Projects in Hewa Khola Watershed
Others Projects (List of Survey Licenses and Cancelled Licenses)
S.N. Projects Capacity
MW
River Promoter VDC/ District
1 Muwa
Khola
0.998 Muwa Phidim Hydro and
Energy P. Ltd.
Panchthar
2 Hewa-A
small HEP
5 Hewa Engineers Saving
and Credit
Cooperative Ltd.
Yanganam,
Ekteen
Panchthar
3 Lower
Pheme
Khola
2.2 Pheme Arun Valley
Hydropower
Devlopment Co. P.
Ltd.
Nangeen,
Phidim,
Bharapa
Panchthar
4 Upper
Pheme
Khola
2.5 Pheme Aqua Himal
Hydropower P. Ltd.
Nangeen,
Ranitar
Panchthar
Hydropower Projects in the vicinity of the Study Area

7. Summary:
Nepal is suffering from an acute shortage of
energy (up to 16 hours of power-cut per day).
Hydropower is considered to be relatively a
clean source of energy; many hydropower
projects (HPP) are coming up in Nepal.
Access to river water is contested for drinking,
livelihood, environment and hydropower.
Due to lack of data and awareness, conflict
between local residents and HPP proponents
frequently arise during project execution.

8. The local government agencies (DDCs and
VDCs) do not have capacity to develop and
implement complicated methods of water
sharing (holistic e-flow assessment, time
dependent evapotranspiration and crop
type/growth related water needs, and water
supply and industrial water needs).
In consultation with DDCs/VDCs and their
expected capacity, a simple spreadsheet based
method was developed to allocate basin-wise
monthly water available for HPP development.

9. Factors considered: monthly variations in (a) river flow, (b) e-flow,
(c) crop cycle/type, (d) population increase, (e) water supply,
(f) industrial and “other” water needs, and (g) rainfall.

10. With development of technical capacity, the
method can accommodate more water
demanding parameters, changes in agricultural
practices/irrigation methods, and climate
change impacts on river water flow.
Once the method becomes a basis for approval
of a planned HPP, it is expected that the HPP
development in Nepal will be comparatively
conflict-less, regarding river water diversion for
HPP.
For further info: contact hari@nec.edu.np