Department Of Hydrology And Meteorology Research Articles

People's experience and facts of changing climate: impacts and responses

Purpose – This paper aims to explore the local knowledge on climate change, its impacts and the responses they are making at the household or community level to deal with the changes on the basis of their experiences and perceptions. Design/methodology/approach – The study was based on household survey conducted with one male and one female respondent in 202 households. Alongside, series of focused group discussions were conducted with local people to capture the perception on about climate change, its impacts and adaptation strategies applied to enhance their resilience capacity to changing climate. Rainfall and temperature data were collected from Department of Hydrology and Meteorology (DHM) for seven and four different stations, respectively, within Kathmandu Valley and analyzed to understand the climatic trend. Findings – The perception of most of the local people on changes in temperature was almost in line with the recorded long-term climatic trend both showing an increasing trend, whereas the perc...

Changing Climatic Parameters and its Possible Impacts in Hydropower Generation in Nepal (A Case Study on Gandaki River Basin)

The analysis of water resources in Nepal identifies two critical impacts of climate change –GLOFs and variability of river runoff – both of which pose significant impacts not only to hydropower, but also to rural livelihoods and agriculture. Temperature differences are most pronounced during the dry winter season, and least during the height of the monsoon. Impacts on water resources and hydropower rank significantly higher than any other sector for several reasons. First, a number of impacts on water resources and hydropower are directly related to rising temperatures that have already been observed, and are projected to increase further over the coming decades. This includes glacier retreat that in turn causes both greater variability in stream flow and glacial lake outburst floods that pose significant risk to hydropower facilities, other infrastructure, and human settlements. GLOFs are not hypothetical; such events have already had significant impacts in Nepal. In this study over the Gandaki river basin, discharge of the rivers, temperature trends, and rainfall patterns are analyzed using data from meteorological stations of the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology (DHM), Government of Nepal. Similarly the hydrological stations over the major glacier rivers of the basin are examined. In the study area, some hydropower stations and their energy production fluctuations over the seasons reflect the climate change impact to the hydro energy production in Nepal.Key words: Climate change; GLOF; Hhydropower; DHMDOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/jie.v8i1-2.5108Journal of the Institute of Engineering Vol. 8, No. 1&2, 2010/2011Page: 160-173Uploaded Date: 20 July, 2011

Total Run-of-River type Hydropower Potential of Nepal

The total hydropower potential of Nepal was assessed as 83,500 MW in 1966 by Dr. Hari Man Shrestha dur-ing his PhD research work in former USSR. Since then, no further study has been done in this feld. The hydropower potential estimate has been used by Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), Water and Energy Commission Secretariat (WECS) and Department of Electricity Development (DOED) for power development, licensing and policy making. However, keeping in view recent advancements in computer technology that offer many benefits to the field of water resources and the importance of power estimation in Nepal, Dr. Shrestha’s estimate needs further review and updat-ing. The present study has mainly used the hydro-meteorological data of Department of Hydrology and Meteorology (DHM) for hydrological analysis of all the rivers in Nepal including the three big rivers, viz., Saptakoshi, Narayani and Karnali, and other medium and small rivers. Incorporating GIS and the Hydropower Model that has specifcally been developed by the author, the power potential and annual energy estimate on an run-of-the-river (ROR) basis of the entire country has been worked out. The result shows that the power potential and annual energy estimates of Na-rayani, Saptakoshi and Karnali River basins at Q40% (fow exceedence) and 80% efficiency are 17800, 17008, 15661 MW and 113373, 108817, 102324 GWh, respectively. The Mahakali River would yield only 2262 MW of hydropower and 14981 GWh of energy annually. The other water sources in Nepal would have a total power potential of 1105 MW and a combined annual energy of 7043 GWh. Thus, the total hydropower potential and corresponding annual energy capacity of Nepal on a ROR basis at Q40%, and 80% efficiency is 53,836 MW and 346538 GWh, respectively.Key words: Hydropower potential; Run-of-River (ROR); GIS; Hydropower Model; NepalDOI: 10.3126/hn.v7i0.4226Hydro Nepal Journal of Water, Energy and Environment Vol 7, July, 2010Page: 8-13Uploaded date: 31 January, 2011