Zeitschrift für Grundlagen erneuerbarer Energien und Anwendungen
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Performance Evaluation of Hydropower plants of Nepal using Multi Criteria Decision Analysis: Review Study

Dak Bahadur Khadka

Nepal having huge hydro power potential of 83000 MW is using only 1% energy from hydropower (very clean, sustainable and renewable energy resources) .Despite huge potential are untapped and importing power to meet the demand. The gross installed capacity of the country is 900 MW developed within over 100 year’s period from 1911 to till this date and.653 MW is importing from India. Water resources are only one reliable source to generate income from hydropower development for Nepal and can significantly increase the national economy. But unfortunate the nation is depending on the other countries to import the energy. To reduce the economic loss in energy import, hydropower development must be given first priority and the existing plants should be in well operation conditions. To improve the performance of the plant regular performance evaluation should be carried out. With the age of plants the deterioration causes decrease in plant efficiency. To rectify the condition timely evaluation is must. Such that the evaluation enables the decision maker to take action for the improvement of the plants in effective way. This evaluation study is carried out for both existing large and medium plants on the basis of Multi Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) which includes energy production profile, self-sufficiency, plant factor, O/M cost, energy generation cost and staff level as evaluation criteria. From the study the energy production cost found high in case of large power plants but they are operation in better conditions than medium power plants. Medium power plants found to be repaired as soon possible.