KATHMANDU BERNHARDT SECONDARY

SCHOOL BALKHU

PHYSICS PROJECT WORK – XI

STUDY OF USES OF ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

SOURCES IN NEPAL

SUBMITTED TO: SUBMITTED BY:

Name of Teacher: - __________________
Department of Physics
Name of Student:- Abhishek KC
Class: XI – Sec _G___
(Bio / Maths)
Roll No:- _4________
Board Exam Roll No:- ____________________
 Index

1. Introduction Page no. ……….

2. Aim of the project Page no. ……….

3. Working principle Page no. ……….

4. Theory Page no. ……….

5. Apparatus Used Page no. ……….

6. Related diagrams Page no. ……….

7. Observation and Result Page no. ……….

8. Conclusion Page no. ……….

9. Bibliography Page no. ……….

KATHMANDU BERNHARDT SECONDARY SCHOOL
BALKHU

DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS

CERTIFICATE OF EXCELLENCE

This is to certify that __________________________, a student of class

XI, Sec ____ has successfully completed the project work on the
mentioned project under the guidance of physics teacher
_______________________ during the year 2077/2078 in partial
fulfillment of physics practical examination conducted by NEB, Sanothimi,
Bhaktapur, Nepal.

__________________________ __________________________
Signature of External Examiner Signature of Physics teacher

________________________
Signature of HOD
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

It gives me a great pleasure to express my gratitude towards our Physics

teacher _______________________ for his/her guidance, support and
encouragement throughout the duration of the project work. Without his/her
motivation and help the successful completion of this project would not
have been possible.

I would also like to extend my gratitude to the HOD of Department of

Physics "Mr. Ajay Budhathoki" for providing me with all the facility that
was required.

Date: Name of student: - _Abhishek KC

________________ XI – Sec __G__
(Bio / Maths)
Roll No: __4______
Board Exam Roll No: -______________
Introduction

As we know our country Nepal is the richest country in water resources.

Nepal has no known major oil, gas, or coal reserves, and its position in the
Himalayas makes it hard to reach remote and extremely remote
communities. Consequently, most Nepali citizens have historically met
their energy needs with biomass, human labor, imported kerosene, and/or
traditional water-powered vertical axis mills, yet per capita energy
consumption is thus “startlingly low” at one-third the average for Asia as a
whole and less than one-fifth the worldwide average. In 2010, Nepal’s
electrification rate was only 53 percent (leaving 12.5 million people without
electricity) and 76 percent depended on fuelwood for cooking (meaning
20.22 million people placed stress on Nepali forests for their fuel needs).
This situation has led some experts to call the country’s energy portfolio
“medieval” in the fuels it uses and “precarious” in the load shedding that
occurs throughout Kathmandu, due to an imbalance between electricity
supply and demand. Nepal, however, has all it needs to escape these
problems. Large markets for improved cookstoves, biogas digesters, and
solar lanterns exist throughout the country. Independent scientific studies
have calculated that the country could meet all if its own energy needs—
indeed, even the potential needs of Nepal plus many of its neighbors—if it
tapped its solar resources or its hydroelectric resources (and potentially its
wind resources). These efforts could be complemented with attempts to
strengthen energy efficiency planning, with significant potential for
transmission upgrades and retrofits and more efficient lighting practices.
Aim of project.
Formulation of policies and strategies in the sectors of water and energy.
• Preparation of legislative proposals in these sectors
• Coordination of policy dialogue in these sectors
• Identification of energy projects
• Analysis of the portfolio of bilateral and multilateral
development projects in the sectors of energy and water
• Energy planning and preparation of energy demand studies

Energy Situation
Energy Consumption
Nepal's total energy consumption in 2010 was about 428 PJ (10,220 ktoe). New
renewable energy sources (excluding large hydropower) such as biogas, micro-hydro
and solar energy contributed about 0.7% to the national balance in 2008/09 altogether.
Although the share is still small, it has increased by 40 % since 2005.
The use of primary energy sources is distributed as follows:

Biomass 85 %

Petroleum products 9%

Coal 3%

Hydro Electricity 2%

Renewables 1%

Between 2001 and 2009, the total energy consumption was growing at a rate of 2.4 %
per year on average. Although there is a considerable lack of efficiency in energy use,
Nepal accounts for relatively low CO2 emissions compared to other countries in the
region. The reason is the high proportion of renewable energy sources (biomass and
hydropower) in primary energy consumption. 43.6 % (2009) of Nepalese population
has access to electricity; 81.0 % (2012) depend on traditional fuels (wholly or
partially).
Energy Consumption on Household Level
Percentage of energy types used for cooking in rural and urban areas.
82% of population use solid fuels (charcoal, coal, crop waste, dung and wood) as
cooking energy. In rural areas this percentage goes up to 90%, whereas only 33% of
the urban dwellers use solid fuels for cooking.
There are several activities ongoing to improve the cooking situation in Nepal.

Total annual deaths attributable to solid fuel use: 7500 persons.

Percentage of national burden of diseases attributable to solid fuel use: 2,7%
According to the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, 85 % of the Nepali
population use solid fuels for cooking (mostly wood).

With about 1 TOE for every $1,000 of GDP, Nepal has the poorest energy intensity
among all South Asian countries (IEA, 2012). It thus has very large energy efficiency
potential, though the United Nations warns that “energy efficiency efforts in the
country are still at its infancy.” The NEA currently pursues a “loss reduction” strategy
of rehabilitating 27 feeders and distribution lines and plans for solar-powered
streetlamps and replacing incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent ones have
been discussed, but not fully implemented. Nepal thus has several barriers to energy
efficiency that it must overcome, including “absence of a legal framework,” “low
levels of public awareness,” and “lack of capable human resources.” In this regard,
Nepal is in the process of formulating an Energy Efficiency Strategy and establishing
an agency to institutionalize energy efficiency.

Renewable Energy
Biomass
Biomass is by far the most important primary energy source in Nepal. Biomass
comprises wood, agricultural residues and dung. 95 % of the biomass is predominantly
and traditionally used for cooking and heating purposes in households.
According to estimates by WECS the national biomass balance is in deficit: From
2000 to 2005 the deforestation rate was 2.1 % which was the highest rate in the region
followed by Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The estimated wood consumption in 2005 was
about 17 million tons. Over-exploitation of wood resources is declared to be
approximately 10 million tons. This indicates that only about 40 % of the firewood
comes from the sustainable supply. However, there are clear regional differences. In
the Terai region, only 19 % of consumption can re-grow sustainably, while this value
reaches between 60 % and 80 % in the mountain regions. According to WECS, these
figures are not certain and therefore only indicative.
Land Area Covered by Forest: 25.4%
Forest Annual Rate of Change: -1.23% (1990-2005); 0% (2005-2010)
Biogas
The Nepali farming system is heavily dependent on livestock, with at least 1.2 million
households owning cattle and buffalo, with technical biogas potential for at least one
million household-size plants, 57 percent located in the Terai plains, 37 percent in the
hills and 6 percent in remote hills.
According to the Alternative Energy Promotion Center, as of July 2011, 241,920
biogas plants were installed in more than 2,800 Village Development Committees and
in all 75 Districts under their Biogas Support Program. In addition, 2,907 biogas plants
were installed under the Gold Standard Biogas Project (GSP).
Still, other estimates of Nepali biogas utilization have calculated that potential for
family-sized biogas plants, operating on agricultural residues could fuel at least
another 200,000 units.
Biogas Technology in Nepal
Solar
Nepal has great potential for at least four types of solar energy technology: grid-
connected PV, solar water heaters, solar lanterns and solar home systems. Nepal
receives 3.6 to 6.2 kWh of solar radiation per square meter per day, with roughly 300
days of sun a year, making it ideal for solar energy.
The country also has a large market for solar water heaters, with 185,000 units
installed and operating as of 2009.

Fossil Fuels
Petroleum Products
Petroleum is the second largest energy fuel in Nepal after firewood and accounts for
8% of primary energy consumption in Nepal. All petroleum products are imported
from India. The government has signed an agreement with the British company Cairns
Energy PLC for petroleum exploitations, but the exploitation works have not been
initiated up to now.
Now, the import of petroleum products is transacted exclusively between the “Nepal
Oil Corporation” and the “Indian Oil Corporation”. 75 % of the imports are diesel,
kerosene and gasoline. Due to the high energy demand in the country the dependence
on petroleum imports is increasing. In 2006, Nepal had to spend 53 % of its foreign
currency for importing petroleum products which is almost double than 2001. More
than 62 % of the petroleum products are used in the transportation sector. Besides that,
petroleum products constitute important energy sources for cooking purposes in
households. The price rises during the last years made the import dependency more
and more precarious for the economy of the country. The price instability also
increased the vulnerability of households, especially of the urban poor, for which
kerosene has become the principal source of cooking energy. The amount these
households must spend on kerosene has more than doubled from 2003 to 2009.
In recent years, subsidized fuels for cooking such as Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG)
have been utilized widely not only in urban but also in rural areas. But due to price
rises in international oil markets, fossil fuels have become too costly. In 2010, the
Nepal Oil Corporation reports that almost 40% of high-speed diesel is used for
electricity generation in captive gensets. As a result, diesel imports have therefore
doubled from 2008 to 2010, creating opportunity costs of around NR 41 billion (US$
490 million) annually.

Coal
Coal accounts for 2 % of the total energy consumption and is almost exclusively
consumed by the industrial sector, primarily for heating and boiling processes in brick,
lime and cement production as well as in steel processing. Apart from some minor
coal reserves, coal for industrial needs is imported from India. In the year 2008/09,
Nepal imported about 293,000 tons of coal.

Electricity

The state-owned Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) is responsible for the electricity
supply through the national grid. Electricity supply is limited to 43.6 % of the
population (2009) which lives mainly in urban areas. Only 8 % of people in rural areas
have access to electricity. The low level of electrification hampers both economic
development and access to information and education in rural areas.
Beside the national grid, thousands of small installations (diesel gensets, solar home
systems, small island mini grids etc.) are installed in Nepal. Therefore, the NEA serves
only 15 % of the total population of Nepal. For this small number of customers,
average electricity supply is less than eight hours per day, with load shedding
accounting for up to 16 hours during winter. In December 2008, the Nepal
Government declared a “national energy crisis” and approved an Energy Crisis
Management Action Plan. In January 2009, things got even worse as drought in one
part of the country reduced water available for hydroelectricity generation, and floods
in another part breached the embankments of the Koshi River, toppling a crucial
transmission line importing power from India. Such events provoked the World Bank
to declare that “Nepal is experiencing an energy crisis of unprecedented severity,
caused by years of underinvestment and sharp growth in electricity demand.”90 Other
recent studies have concluded that “Nepal has strikingly low levels of access and
electricity consumption compared to many other developing countries.”
Electricity Demand
The electricity consumption and the number of consumers increase at a rate of
approximately 9 % per year, according to the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA).
Because of increasing household consumption, the evening peak demand has risen
dramatically. Due to the continuously rising demand and stagnation in creating
additional power generation capacities, a noticeable shortage of power supply since
2007 has been the consequence, which forced the NEA in early 2009 to cut power for
up to 20 hours per day in some regions including urban centers.
The NEA as the major electricity utility faces an immense increase in electricity
demand, whereas at the same time production and transmission capacities are limited.
Though, ambitious development targets are announced by politics, the development of
plants and transmission lines cannot keep up with economic development and its
induced demand increase.

Peak energy demand in Nepal (2014)

Between 2005 and 2014 (estimated figures) peak demand has more than doubled from
557 to 1200 MW. In the same period annual electricity production increased from
2642 GWh to 4631 GWh. Out of these, 3558 GWh have been produced domestically,
while 1072 GWh have been imported from India.
Generation & Installed Capacity
Production is heavily dependent on hydropower, as nearly 93% of the total electricity
will be generated by either NEA-owned or private hydropower plants in 2013 (despite
high costs per unit installed due to topography and unfavorable hydrology and
geology). In order to meet the growing hunger for more electricity, imports from India
have become more important during the last decade. In 2011 they accounted for 18.42
% of total energy production. Whereas private and state-owned hydropower generation
has doubled in the last ten years, power imports from India are 4 times higher now
(from 266 GWh in 2001 to 1072 GWh in 2013).
A similar picture can be drawn in terms of installed generation capacity. Currently,
733 MW out of 782 MW installed capacity is hydropower. Around 478 MW of
hydropower capacity is NEA-owned, while 255 MW is privately owned and operated.
Due to rising fuel prices two diesel power plants with a total installed capacity of 53.4
MW were almost abandoned within the last years.

Hydro
One major technical barrier to fully harnessing Nepal’s hydroelectric potential is the
country’s hydrology. The rugged and mountain alpine terrain endows Nepal with
plentiful moving water, but the South-West monsoon delivering it is inconsistent.
About 80 percent of the country’s rain occurs from June to September, the remaining
20 percent falls as snow during the dry season. This mismatch between when water is
available and when it is needed year-round to generate hydroelectricity creates a
complicated engineering challenge, leading severe load shedding particularly in
winter, of up to 18 hours at times.
A list of installed and planned hydro power plants has been published by
Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI):

Total Major Hydro Grid 472,994

Connected kW

Total Small Hydro Isolated 4,536 kW

(NEA)

Total hydro IPP 158,315

kW

Total Hydro -Nepal 635,845

kW

A prevalence of water with high rates of silt and lack of sufficient crews to
conduct maintenance led to an average capacity factor of hydro plant - the
amount of time a dam is producing electricity - is around 59 %.

Solar
943 medium-size solar PV units provide 1.2 MWp of electricity for the
communications sector. Solar lanterns, popularly known as solar tuki, with
155,000 units in use as of 2010 constituting 737 kWp of capacity. 225,000
of solar home systems are used throughout Nepal across 2600 villages with
an output of 5.36 MWp.

Wind
The first wind turbine generator of 20 kW capacity (10 kW each) installed
Kagbeni of Mustang District in 1989 (Within the three months of operation,
blade and tower of the wind generator were broken). Other, wind turbines
were installed in Chisapani of Shivapuri National Park and the Club
Himalaya in Nagarkot, both of which are not functional anymore. Within
the Asian Development Bank Renewable Village Program, two 5KW wind
turbines in Dhaubadi village of Nawalparasi District were installed.
Potential of Renewable Energy
The potential is as follows (UNDP, 2012)
Total Installed Capacity 710 MW (mostly hydro)
Technical Renewable Energy Potential 77,949 MW
Annual Total Electricity Generation 3,851 GWh
Annual Renewable Energy Potential 226,460 GWh
Notes: 2,100 MW of solar PV, 716 MW of wind, 42,133 MW of hydro. At a capacity
factor of 17 percent, those solar facilities would generate 3,127 GWh. At a capacity
factor of 30 percent, those wind farms would generate 1,882 GWh. At a capacity
factor of 60 percent, those dams would generate 221,451 GWh.

Nepalese hydropower potential in detail: This potential was not calculated by the
cited paper. In fact, it was done by Dr. Shrestha, as cited in that paper itself. This
number is used by many research papers. Could you please clarify why only this paper
was cited and is it okay to do that?

River Basin Number of project Economic potential

sites [MW]

Sapta Koshi 40 10,260

Sapta Gandaki 12 5,270

Karnali and 9 25,125

Mahakali

Southern River 5 878

Total 66 42,133

The theoretical overall potential is 83,290 MW and the technical feasible potential is
45,610 MW from which 42,133 MW is economically to realize.
Nepalese Wind potential:
The Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership published in 2012 Nepal
has substantial wind potential in one study with at least 200 to 300 MW of capacity
possible and extreme wind speeds of 46 meters per second in some areas recorded,
with the best sites in the Mustang district (though many of these sites are remote from
existing roads and transmission networks). A second, more thorough assessment
looked at wind resources in the Annapurna Conservation Area and estimated at least
716 MW of capacity within 10 kilometers of the NEA grid. A third study done jointly
by the Department of Geology at Tribhuvan University and the Ministry of Physical
Planning and Works found at least, 3,000 MW of technical wind potential and 448
MW of potential that could be quickly and commercially exploited.

Regional Disparities

In 2008/09 consumption of electricity was almost balanced between industrial

(manufacturing) sector (37.37 %) and households (45.52 %), while the commercial
sector consumed only 6.6 %. However, the industrialized and urban areas account for
the majority of electricity demand.
Around 28 % of electricity produced in Nepal in the year 2005 was consumed in the
Kathmandu Valley alone. The vast majority of electricity is currently consumed in the
central and eastern region. Therefore, an elaborated system of transmission lines is
required as few hydropower plants are situated close to areas of high demand. Middle-
(70 MW), Lower-Marshyangdi (69 MW) as well as Kali-Gandaki A (144 MW) as the
biggest hydropower projects are all situated in the western part of the country. At the
same time, this power cannot be transmitted to the central and eastern part due to
bottlenecks in the transmission network between Bharatpur – Hetauda – Dhalkebar.
Especially the eastern region has become totally dependent on power imported from
India. Besides low generation capacity, the poor transmission network seems to be the
major bottleneck in the Nepalese electricity sector.

Power Shortage & Load-Shedding

The general shortage of electricity is manifesting itself in scheduled power cuts (so-
called load-shedding), which became an incremental part of power supply in Nepal
within the last years. Especially during dry-season Nepal’s dependence on hydropower
becomes obvious, forcing the NEA to cut power in Kathmandu up to 16 hours per day
(as in April 2011). The situation has even worsened as only two hydropower plants
with an installed capacity of 92 MW are storage types, while the rest are run-off river
plants.
Following figure illustrates the growing gap between electricity demand and supply
and corresponds with the appearance of load-shedding. Since 2006/07 the supply gap
increased from 105 GWh to 678 GWh in 2009/10, with the temporary peak in 2008/09
with 745 GWh. Furthermore, the figure shows the seasonal fluctuations due to
irregular run-off rivers. Due to glacier melt and intensive rainfall during the monsoon
season, electricity supply almost matches the demand between June and October.
However, during the winter (where precipitation is far less) generation capacity
decreases along with diminishing run-off rivers.

Coping with load-shedding is challenging both the industrial and commercial sector.
Despite preferential treatment of the industrial sector (which is partly spared from
load-shedding), manufacturing suffers hard from the power crisis. Newspaper’s report,
that manufacturing industries must cut their production between 25 and 80 % in peak
times. Small commercial businesses are similarly affected by load-shedding, as many
are dependent on power and are thus forced to use generators or backup systems. The
long-term impact of poor power supply is observable as the share of manufacturing
sector among GDP declined from 9 to 6 % since 2000/01.
As the construction period for new power generation projects and new import
transmission capacities is very long, a rapid improvement of energy supply cannot be
expected. An emergency supply through diesel power plants is unrealistic, because of
the high-power generation costs associated. Therefore, the power supply crisis affects
public life and especially economic development negatively. Electricity provides
nearly one fourth of the total industrial energy consumption. It has to be expected that
more industrial enterprises and service providers make themselves independent from
the unreliable public power supply by using diesel generators. Although this costly
practice allows at least profitable companies to maintain their business, it places a
huge burden on the national economy as additional fuel imports will be necessary.
Demand Forecast & Outlook
According to estimations of the NEA energy demand will grow in the next 17 years
with an average annual rate of 8.34 %. The current demand of 4430 GWh annually is
expected to double until 2018 and exceed 17,400 GWh by 2027. Along with the
growing demand it is projected that system peak load will increase with similar annual
growth rates, reaching 3679 MW in 2027.
These estimations require an immense increase in the exploitation of the vast
hydropower resources in Nepal. Of the 42,000 MW of economically feasible
hydropower resources only the relatively small share of 1.7 % is tapped. Despite long
term development plans targeting to reach 10,000 MW of installed capacity by 2020
(according to the 10-years hydropower development plan), current development of the
sector draw a rather different picture.
Currently, projects with a total capacity of 547 MW are under construction. NEA
projects account for the major share (500 MW) of it. Planned and proposed projects
would furthermore increase the capacity by 1422 MW. But considering the relatively
slow deployment of new projects in Nepal, it seems unlikely that until 2020 more than
7000 MW of capacity will be contributed by projects that even have not been
proposed until now.
Though, actions to upgrade generation capacity within the next ten years were taken,
the current situation of load-shedding is likely to persist and may even get worse soon.
Chamelia and Kulekhani-III with a capacity of 30 and 14 MW respectively are
expected to be completed in 2011. However, the first one is situated in the Far-
Western region and is thus unable to contribute to the major demand in the central and
eastern part of the country. If at all, relief can be expected when the Upper Tamakoshi
project is connected to the national grid. With a total capacity of 456 MW, it is
expected to contribute 2281.2 GWh annually. Developed as a PPP it is scheduled to
start production in 2013/14. Considering the estimated growth of energy demand,
capacity will hardly meet peak demand even after completion of the three above
mentioned projects. Especially, in the dry seasons plants will operate far below their maximum
capacity, resulting in load-shedding or an immense increase of power imports from India.
Limited financing: Inabilities to procure financing and foreign investment are major
barriers. One assessment calculated that if you take all the available capital in Nepali
markets - this for everything, not just energy - and directed it solely at building
hydropower projects, you will not even have enough for 200 MW. UNDP surveyed
key lenders in the sector and noted that commercial banks and financial institutions
are “generally not interested” in investing in energy. A separate evaluation commented
that Nepal lacked “long-term debt financing” for energy projects and that the major
lenders, the Agricultural Development Bank and National Commercial Bank, have
already “maxed out” their lending for micro hydro, solar PV, and biogas. A third study
remarked that in Nepal, “financial institutions are not readily motivated to invest in
renewable energy technologies because of the immature business models, market
insecurity and implementation and usage risks.”

Conclusion
Nepal has been implementing energy efficiency measures for about two
decades in different scales and at different levels, but as of today, does not
have any nodal agency for addressing the issues of energy efficiency and
leading the process of promoting and improving energy efficiency. The
ministry of energy is currently working on the drafting of such a nodal
government agency for energy efficiency that shall lead the initiation of
regulatory framework and facilitate the setting of energy efficiency
promoting policies.

Bibliography
.http.//energypedia.info