Kulekhani 1 Hydropower Station

About

Kulekhani-I, located at Dhorsing, Makwanpur, is the only reservoir type hydropower station in Nepal with installed capacity is 60MW having two units each of capacity 30 MW. This station was designed as a peaking power station but it is often operated to the system requirements for voltage improvement & system stability. The annual designed energy generation capacity is 165GWh as primary energy and 46 GWh as secondary energy. This project was constructed with the financial assistance of World Bank, The Kuwait Fund, OPEC Fund, the UNDP & the Overseas Economic Co-operation Fund (OECF) of Japan & Government of Nepal. The total project cost was US$ 117.843 million and accordingly the project was transferred to NEA with a capital cost of approximately NRs. 1,550 million. The tele-metering system installed for the measurement of rainfall, water level etc. cost around NRs. 137.4 million. The cost of road check dams and inclined tunnel is about 23 crores. Its first unit was commissioned on 14th May 1982 and the power station was inaugurated on 8th December 1982 (B.S. 2039-Marga-23). In 1994, an overhauling work of the power station was performed with the grant assistance of Japan.  The generation from this power station contributed 6.09% of the total energy to the INPS. The maximum and minimum water-level of the Kulekhani reservoir in FY 2010/11 was recorded as 1521.34 masl and 1495.22 masl and in FY 2011/12 was recorded as 1530.38 masl and 1497.33 masl. 