Langtang Project: Nepal’s first hydropower from a glacial lake

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.