Langtang Project: Nepal’s first hydropower from a glacial lake
- Posted By
10Pointer
- Categories
Geography
- Published
19th Nov, 2021
-
Context
Langtang Microhydro Electricity Project, Nepal’s first hydropower from a glacial lake has become functional recently.
Langtang Microhydro Electricity Project
- The Project was built three years after the 2015 earthquake-avalanche that devastated the valley, with help from the Hong Kong-based Kadoorie Charitable Foundation.
- It has a weir and spillway at the moraine, and the water is taken through a fiberglass-insulated penstock pipe to a powerhouse that generates 100kW of electricity.
- It seeks to provide 24 hours of electricity to 120 households and tourist lodges in Kyanjin and Langtang.
Uniqueness of the project
- The project is the first-of-its-kind in Nepal to power a village and holds promise for other remote Himalayan valleys where the risk posed by expanding glacial lakes can be mitigated.
- At the same time, it provides electricity to tourism-dependent families.