Energy Minister Shakti Bahadur Basnet has laid the foundation stone for the construction of a 29.5m high Dam of the 216 MW Upper Trishuli-1 (UT-1) run-of-the-river hydroelectric project in Trishuli River of Rasuwa District. Basnet laid the foundation stone for the project amidst a special ceremony held in Kathmandu on Tuesday.
Nepal Water and Energy Development Company (NWEDC), a special purpose vehicle through which Korea South-East Power Co (KOEN) along with Korea Overseas Infrastructure and Urban Development Corporation (KIND), International Finance Corporation (IFC) a member of the World Bank Group and domestic investor is developing the project on build-own-operate-transfer (BOOT) model. The project development agreement of the project was signed with the government in December 2016.
The UT-1 is the largest hydroelectric project under construction with foreign direct investment for domestic consumption. The concession period for the project is 35 years, including five years of construction period.
Addressing the ceremony, Energy Minister Basnet said that the government is fully committed to creating a favorable environment for domestic and foreign investors to develop hydropower projects.
The President and Chief Executive Officer of KOEN Hoe-Chun Kim said the project is very important for fulfilling increasing internal power demand, especially in the dry season.
The project’s main construction started in Jan 2022 and is estimated to be completed in December 2026. The main construction works including the excavation of the underground powerhouse, headrace tunnel, and head works are in full swing on all fronts and the overall progress rate of the project is 22 percent. Doosan Eneribility is the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractor for the Project.
The $647.34m project is financed through 70 percent debt and 30 percent equity. The project partners will provide an equity investment of $194.2m. The debt of $453.12m is being provided by a group of international lenders, including the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Asian Development Bank (ADB), Korean Exim Bank (K-EXIM), Korean Development Bank (KDB), Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), FMO (The Netherlands), the British International Investment (BII), Proparco (France), and the OPEC fund for International Development (OFID).
The UT-1 is expected to generate up to 1,533 GWh of electricity. Out of the total annual energy generated by the Project, 38.75 percent will be generated during the dry season, which is higher than most of the other run-of-the-river hydropower projects in Nepal, thus contributing vastly to managing the dry season electricity shortfall.
