A PRESENTATION ON ENVIRONMENTAL

IMPACT ASSESSMENT
ABHISHEK KALAUNI
072-BCE-001
 ARUN III HYDROPOWER PROJECT

1. Strategic Context
A. Country Context
Nepal has a huge hydropower potential. In fact, the perennial nature of
Nepali rivers and the steep gradient of the country's topography provide ideal
conditions for the development of some of the world's largest hydroelectric
projects in Nepal. Current estimates are that Nepal has approximately 40,000
MW of economically feasible hydropower potential. However, the present
situation is that Nepal has developed only approximately 800 MW of
hydropower.
Energy Consumption in Nepal
The electricity demand in Nepal is increasing by about 7-9% per year. About
40 % of population in Nepal has access to electricity through the grid and off grid
system. Nepal's Tenth Five Year Plan (2002– 2007) aims to extend the
electrification within country and export to India for mutual benefit.
 B. Sectoral and Institutional Context
Natural resources available in Nepal for power generation
 Nepal’s hydropower potential is estimated at about 84,000 MW
theoretically and 43,000 MW economically viable.
 Potentials of fossil fuel resources are limited and the country fully relies
on import of petroleum products (POLs) and liquefied petroleum gas to
meet domestic energy needs for transportation and cooking.
 Hydropower remains the least-cost option for power generation to meet
domestic demand and has the potential to make Nepal a battery of the
South Asia region.
Necessity of Hydropower
 Hydropower represents an important source of energy, accounting for
one-fifth of the world's electricity supply.
 Hydropower projects have a number of benefits. The prominent among
them are that these projects have low energy production cost considering
the long effective lifetime of the plants along with the low operation and
maintenance cost, greater efficiency than of all the major types of plants
using non-renewable and renewable energy resources, almost complete
absence of greenhouse gas emission.
 The most important benefit is that hydropower plants produce electricity
without consuming power.
 Hydropower provides a reliable, efficient, safe and economic source of
power for increasing effectiveness of the decentralized industries system.
Access to electricity services
 According to the national census, about 75 percent of the population in
Nepal is estimated to have connections to grid (about 50 percent) and off-
grid (about 25 percent) electricity.
 Lack of access to reliable grid-supplied electricity is one of the key
obstacles to lifting the remaining people below the poverty line out of
poverty.
Energy crisis as a major constraint to growth
 The lack of grid-supplied electricity is a major barrier for Nepal to expand
access to quality electricity services, improve living standards, raise
agriculture productivity and incomes, and help its youth transit from
farming to non-farm employment.
 Commercial and industrials consumers run captive generators using
expensive imported diesel fuel at a very high cost
 Subsidies to the energy sector have become a major drain on scarce public
resources.
 PROJECT DEVELOPMENT
OBJECTIVES

A. PDO:
The project development objectives (PDOs) are:
 To strengthen the capacity power sector agencies to plan and prepare
hydropower and transmission lines.
 Improve the readiness of the power sector agencies for regulatory and
institutional reforms.
B. Project Beneficiaries:
 The Project beneficiary are NEA, GoN agencies and Sutlej
company(India) which will benefit from preparation of hydropower and
transmission projects, creation of a conducive environment for promotion
of hydropower and water resources development in a sustainable way, and
improvement of institutional capacity for power sector.
 The annual energy from the project has been assessed as 4018.84 GWh on
90% dependable basis and design energy as 3923.99 GWh. The project
would also provide peaking benefits of 900 MW round the year.
C. PDO Level Results Indicators:
Key results indicators to monitor and measure achievements include the
following:
 Capacity of hydro power projects prepared (MW)
 Length of transmission line projects prepared (km)
 Number of key sector policy and reform proposals validated and endorsed
at the institutional level by the MoE, NEA, Ministry of Environment,
Science and Technology (MoEST), and WECS (number).
 APPRAISAL TECHNIQUES

FINANCIAL AND ECONOMIC ASPECTS:

 Arun-3 H.E. Project would harness a large block of cheap and renewable
energy.
 The study has concluded that the project is attractive, financially &
economically viable and deserves to be implemented.
 Hence such mega project should be launched and implemented as soon as
possible. As well as it can be an opportunities for Harmony- trade with
India and other countries by exporting energy produced in Nepal.
SOCIO-ENVIRONMENT:
 As per the national environmental guidelines and based on data and
information collected during limited field study, an Environment
Impact Assessment studies is already accomplished. This will also
form the basis to start public opinion on the project about the land
acquisition, impact of project on livelihood of people and the hinders
& effects on the project due to the surroundings
 The EIA report of the Project has been approved by Ministry of
Science, Technology & Environment, GoN on 12.08.15.MoU for
Roads & bridges between Department of Roads, Govt of Nepal &
SAPDC was signed on 05.01.16 and agreement signed on 29.05.2016.
 CONCLUSION

Arun-3 H.E. Project would harness a large block of cheap and renewable energy.
The study has concluded that the project is attractive, financially & economically
viable and deserves to be implemented.
THANKYOU !!!