international journal of hydrogen energy 33 (2008) 40304039

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Hydrogen energy potential of Nepal

B.B. Alea, S.O. Bade Shresthab,*
a b

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Pulchowk Campus, Institute of Engineering, Tribhuvan University, Nepal Department of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering, 1903 Western Michigan University (WMU), Kalamazoo, MI 49008, USA

article info
Article history: Received 14 February 2008 Received in revised form 29 April 2008 Accepted 29 April 2008 Keywords: Alternative energy Hydrogen economy Hydro-hydrogen generation Off-peak power electricity use

abstract
Nepal is very rich in hydropower. Unfortunately, due to the mountainous topography it is difcult to build a comprehensive electrical grid. Only 30% of the population (primarily in urban areas) currently has access to electricity from the national grid and about 5% from non-grid (micro-hydropower and solar). In addition the power is seasonal, resulting in poor load factor. On a seasonal basis, the power generated by large hydropower stations during the summer surpasses the peak demand of the country. The peak load varies from 400 MW to 560 MW from 17:00 to 21:00 hours. The maximum demand recorded on December 8, 2004 was 557.53 MW at 18:16 hour. Thus, the widespread hydroelectric potential is not effectively utilized. One of the methods to utilize the available power is production of hydrogen by electrolysis using hydropower, a clean source of renewable energy. Nepal is very rich in perennial rivers and has a potential of 83,000 MW of which 43,000 MW of it is considered economically viable. Only about 550 MW (w1%) of this potential has been harnessed till now. This paper highlights possibilities of generation of hydrogen from the existing hydropower plants during off-peak load and utilization of this hydrogen energy to replace the existing fossil fuels used in transportation, cooking and lighting and to meet the growing peak electricity demand by generating electricity using fuel cell in future. Different scenarios of utilization of hydropower during off-peak load have been forecasted and possible replacement of conventional fuels by hydrogen has been discussed. 2008 International Association for Hydrogen Energy. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1.

Introduction

Nepal is situated in the Himalayan Mountain Range between India and China and has numerous river systems that ow from high altitude mountains in north to the plain in south of the country making it one of the most hydropower resourceful countries in the world. Unfortunately, the mountainous topography also makes it difcult to build a comprehensive electrical grid. And about 30% of the population (primarily in urban areas) currently has access to electricity from national grid and about 5% from non-grid (micro-hydropower and solar). In addition the power is seasonal, resulting in poor

load factor. The power generated by large hydropower stations during the summer rainy sessions surpasses the peak demand that varies from 400 MW to 560 MW between 17:00 and 21:00 hours, of the country. The maximum demand recorded was on December 8, 2004, it was 557.53 MW at 18:16 hour [1]. Thus, the widespread hydroelectric potential is not effectively utilized causing a nancial loss to the country. Hence to overcome this hurdle, hydrogen can be introduced as a renewable energy carrier. One of the methods of producing hydrogen is via electrolysis process of water using electricity of hydropower, a clean source of renewable energy. Nepal is very rich in perennial rivers and has a potential of

* Corresponding author. Tel.: 1 269 276 3432; fax: 1 269 276 3421. E-mail address: bade.shrestha@wmich.edu (S.O. Bade Shrestha). 0360-3199/$ see front matter 2008 International Association for Hydrogen Energy. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ijhydene.2008.04.056

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Table 1 Countries with most hydroelectricity installed S.No.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Country
China Canada Brazil USA Russia India Norway Japan France

Annual hydroelectricity production, GWh

416,700 396,700 285,603 260,400 169,700 125,126 180,000 88,500 56,100

Total capacity installed, MW

128,570 68,974 57,517 79,511 46,100 33,600 27,528 27,229 25,335

do not get regular maintenance [2]. Similarly, there are many stationary power plants that use fossil fuel. This also generates more pollutants in the atmosphere. In addition, many urban as well as rural people are dependent on kerosene for cooking and lighting. Therefore, the paper will investigate the potential to produce hydrogen from the surplus electricity of the hydropower during off-peak load [3] in order to replace the growing demand of petroleum products, and reduce greenhouse gases and emissions using hydrogen as a fuel for transportation.

2. Hydropower energy generation and peak load

83,000 MW, of which 43,000 MW is considered economically viable. Only about 550 MW (w1%) of this potential has been harnessed till now. The entire vehicle transportation in Nepal run on fossil fuels, entirely imported from third counties. These fuels when combusted with air in an engine produce harmful emissions gases. These exhausted gases deteriorate atmospheric air and cause harmful impact on health of habitants of urban areas. Even with the introduction of stringent vehicle emission standards, the total amount of pollutants have not been decreased as the numbers of vehicles are increasing continuously. This is because people tend to buy their own vehicles as their income grows. This trend is very common in the developing countries. Thus, the number of vehicles is sure to increase in the near future. According to Department of Transport Management, Ministry of Labour and Transport Management there were 432,264 vehicles registered in Nepal till scal year 20032004. More than 50% of them are registered in Bagmati Zone and most of them ply in Kathmandu Valley. Many of these vehicles are of old models and The demand for energy is growing with the increase of population and other economic activities. Thus, Nepal needs to install more hydropower plant to generate electricity to meet required demand growth and at the same time use this water energy wisely even during off-peak load by generating electricity and storing it in other forms of energy. One way of storing running water energy is to transform it into hydrogen that can be stored and used as per demand. Nepal can be one of the most hydroelectricity installed countries with the economically viable potential of 43,000 MW out of the total potential of 83,000 MW in future. This energy compared to the installed capacity of hydropower in other countries (Table 1) is not small and can be a very useful resource for the development of the country as a whole [4]. As it can be estimated that 43,000 MW could produce 34 times more energy than the total energy consumption (including all sources 367 million GJ in 2005) of the country as a whole [1].

Fig. 1 Electrical load distribution pattern in a day [1].

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45,000 40,000 35,000 30,000 25,000 20,000 15,000 10,000 5,000 0 100% 80% 60% 50% 40% 20%

Surplus energy utilization, %

Fig. 2 Potential hydrogen production capacity from excess hydro energy in 2005.

As mentioned earlier the peak load recorded in October 8, 2004 was 557.53 MW at 18:15 hours against the installed capacity of 550 MW and is shown in Fig. 1 [1]. The excess demand was met by the energy from import and thermal power plant during the peak load. The electricity demand was lower than this value during the other times of the day. It can be calculated from the above gure that total electricity generation could be 4818 GWh based on 550 MW installed capacity. The actual consumption was only 2617 GWh. There was a surplus of 2201 GWh (46%) energy that could be stored in the form of hydrogen per year. Based on the surplus hydropower that could be used to produce hydrogen, the potential hydrogen production capacity is calculated for different scenarios (Fig. 2) using conservatively an average electrolysis efciency of 75% [3,58]. For example, if we could use this surplus hydropower completely then there is a potential of 41,849 tonnes of hydrogen production. Even if we use only 20% of this surplus energy there is a potential of 8370 tonnes of hydrogen that can replace 31,680 kL (kiloliter) of petrol (which is sufcient to run 31,000 vehicles at the rate of fuel consumption of 10 km/L for driving distance of

10,000 km/year), by using a kilogram of hydrogen energetically equivalent to 1 US gallon of gasoline (or petrol). About 158,000 kL of petrol can be replaced with the 100% utilization of surplus energy. The total petrol consumption was about 68,000 kL in 2005 [9]. This could have been replaced by hydrogen generated from a 50% utilization of surplus energy. The peak load and energy demand forecast curve of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) is presented in Table 2. The electricity demand growth rate of 7.8% (in average) per annum is used for the forecast [1]. This table clearly indicates the necessity of more hydropower generation to meet the growing electricity demand of the country. It takes few years to complete installation of hydropower plants. It is thus very essential to use existing hydropower plant for maximum energy production. The forecasted energy demand is met by the use of only about 50% of potential energy generation from the hydropower plants. The remaining 4750% of the power that can be harnessed from the same hydropower plants is wasted. Thus it will be wise to use this wasted energy to replace the growing demand of fossil fuels that are used to run vehicles, cooking and other industrial applications. The potential hydrogen production forecast is calculated based on the surplus hydro energy at different scenarios (use of surplus energy at various percentages) and presented in Fig. 3. It can be seen that there is a potential of hydrogen production from 27,000 tonnes to 140,000 tonnes with the use of surplus energy at 20% and 100%, respectively by 2020.

Hydrogen production, tonnes/year

3. History and forecast of petroleum product consumption in Nepal

Nepal is importing petroleum products such as petrol, diesel, kerosene, aviation oil, furnace oil and LPG (cooking gas). These products come from Indian reneries as per mutual agreement between Indian Oil Corporation and Nepal Oil Corporation. Recently, the demand for cooking gas (LPG) and diesel is growing signicantly compared to other forms of petroleum products. LPG is getting popular with its convenience and clean burning in use compared to kerosene in urban areas. The growing demand for diesel is related to the increase in number
160,000 SURPLUS 140,000 100% 80% 60% 40% 20%

Table 2 Energy demand and peak load forecast Year Peak load, MW
556 594 634 698 757 822 878 956 1039 1127 1220 1294 1398 1502 1614 1733

Potential energy generation, GWh

4873 5200 5556 6112 6635 7198 7693 8375 9099 9868 10,687 11,335 12,245 13,158 14,135 15,181

Energy required. GWh

2566 2600 2778 3056 3317 3599 3924 4271 4640 5033 5450 5895 6367 6842 7350 7894

Surplus GWh
2307 2600 2778 3056 3317 3599 3769 4103 4459 4835 5237 5441 5877 6316 6785 7287

%
47 50 50 50 50 50 49 49 49 49 49 48 48 48 48 48

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

Hydrogen, tonnes

120,000 100,000 80,000 60,000 40,000 20,000 0

2011

2012

2015

2016

2018

2006

2009

2013

2014

2017

2019

2010

Fiscal year
Fig. 3 The potential hydrogen production forecast by the use of surplus energy.

2020

2005

2007

2008

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800,000 Kerosene (SKO) 700,000 600,000 500,000 400,000 300,000 200,000 100,000 0 1974 1978 1986 1988 1998 2002 2019 1976 1980 1982 1984 1990 1992 1994 1996 2000 2004 2020 Diesel (HSD) Petrol (MS)

Fuel consumption, kL

Year
Fig. 4 Petrol, diesel and kerosene consumption trend in Nepal.

of diesel vehicles like minibuses, microbuses, trucks and diesel cars. Besides, diesel is subsidized. According to Nepal Oil Corporation [10], the demand for diesel is increasing signicantly followed by kerosene and then by petrol as shown in Fig. 4. The petrol vehicles are run only in big cities like Kathmandu, Biratnagar, Pokhara, etc. Diesel is mostly consumed by heavy-duty vehicles like buses and trucks. Microbuses which also run on diesel are growing means of city transportation. Kerosene is mostly used as a cooking fuel and a fuel for lighting a lantern, a petromax and a wick lamp. The growing demand for diesel and petrol is

related to the increasing number of motor vehicle population in the country. The decline in the consumption of these fuels in the last few years is related to the insurgency in the country. Kerosene was difcult to transport to the remote parts of the country where it is used for lighting purposes. Besides, in some remote areas the lighting of the houses at night is met by the introduction of solar charged WLED (white light emitting diodes) lamps in recent years. The forecasted growing demands of petrol, diesel and kerosene in the country due to increasing number of transport

1,200,000 Petrol (MS)

Petrol, diesel & kerosene demand trend, kL

Diesel (HSD) 1,000,000 Kerosene (SKO)

800,000

600,000

400,000

200,000

2008 2011 2012 2015 2016 2006 2007 2009 2013 2014 2010 2017 2018

Year
Fig. 5 The forecasted demand of petrol, diesel and kerosene.

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international journal of hydrogen energy 33 (2008) 40304039

600,000 100% replacement 500,000 60% replacement 20% replacement 80% replacement 40% replacement 10% replacement

Hydrogen, tonnes

400,000

300,000

200,000

100,000

0 2008 2011 2012 2015 2016 2018 2010 2013 2014 2017 2019 2019 2020 2020 2006 2007 2009

Year
Fig. 6 Hydrogen needed to replace petrol, diesel and kerosene.

vehicles, cooking needs and lighting are presented in Fig. 5 [10]. With the expansion of transport network, diesel fuel demand will continue to grow. Kerosene is mostly used as a cooking fuel in urban and semi-urban areas where people have no access to LPG. It is also considered a better fuel than fuel wood environmentally.

4. Potential replacement of petroleum products by hydrogen fuel in different scenarios

Fig. 6 indicates how many tonnes of hydrogen are necessary to replace the growing demand of petroleum products like petrol, diesel and kerosene. It can be seen in Fig. 6 that the

demand for hydrogen varies from 50,000 tonnes to 560,000 tonnes for the replacement of petroleum products depending upon the scenarios of 10% or 100% substitution of the vehicle eet by 2020. The more the hydrogen is produced the more petroleum products can be replaced. The demand for hydrogen can be met by initiating hydrogen production during off-peak load and simultaneously adding some more dedicated hydropower plants. It can drastically reduce pollutant and carbon emissions beneting air quality and health of the population substantially in the country, especially in urban areas. The 5.66 million metric tonnes of carbon emissions can be eliminated annually as shown in Fig. 7 with 100% replacement of petrol, diesel and kerosene by hydrogen in 2020, considerably

6,000,000 100% replacement 60% replacement 20% replacement 80% replacement 40% replacement 10% replacement

5,000,000

CO2e Reduction, MT/year

4,000,000

3,000,000

2,000,000

1,000,000

0 2006 2007 2008 2009 2011 2012 2015 2016 2010 2013 2014 2017 2018

Year

Fig. 7 GHG emission benets from the replacement of fossil fuel by hydrogen fuel.

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a
Electricity generation demand, MW

6,000 MW 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0%

5,000

4,000

3,000

2,000

1,000

0 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 926 0 556 0% 2020

Fiscal year

1800 1600 1400

Peak load From surplus Additional

Energy demand, MW

1200 1000 800

664

716

769

821

874

262 600 400 556 200 0

210

157

105

52

556

556

556

556

80%

60%

40%

100%

Ultilization of surplus hydro energy

Fig. 8 Additional electricity generation, needed to replace petrol, diesel and kerosene at different scenarios.

reducing greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions that cause global warming. The following gure shows the electricity generation capacity to replace the fossil fuels in different scenarios (Fig. 8a). The peak load is used to meet the electrical demand as forecasted by NEA. An additional power plant is needed to replace the fossil fuel completely (100%). Some of the energy demand can be met by utilizing the surplus hydro energy of the existing plant. For example, let us take the case for 2006 (Fig. 8b). The electrical peak demand is 556 MW and energy needed to replace petrol, diesel and kerosene is 926 MW. In total we need 1482 MW. The hatchet line shows the capacity of additional hydropower plant to be added in order to meet the energy demand to replace fossil fuels. The additional energy demand can be reduced by utilizing the existing plant to generate electricity which can be used to produce hydrogen particularly during the off-peak power. Depending on the utilizing factor

the additional power plant size can be reduced by up to 262 MW. The line B in Fig. 9 represents the forecasted power demand (including the use of surplus energy by 100%) that is needed to meet the electrical demand as well as to completely replace petrol, diesel and kerosene. If we start adding power plants by 20% each year then the demand will be met only in 2013; that is, after 8 years. Similarly, the addition of power at the rate of 15% will be sufcient to meet the demand only by 2019 (after 19 years). The addition of power at the rate of 10% is not sufcient to meet the demand at all by 2020. In business as usual (BAU) scenario where no off-peak power is used to produce hydrogen, the power increment line at the rate of 20% meets the forecasted demand curve line (line A) only in 2015; after 10 years or two years later than the previous case. If a power plant is added at the rate of 15% per year then there is a longer waiting time to meet the forecasted demand.

20%

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international journal of hydrogen energy 33 (2008) 40304039

9,000 8,000 7,000 MW Forecasted demand (100%) - Line B Forecasted demand (BAU) - Line A 20% increment

Power demand, MW

6,000 5,000 4,000 3,000 After 8 years

After 19 years After 10 years 15% increment

A
2,000 1,000 0 2005 2006

10% increment

7.8% increment

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019 2019

Year
Fig. 9 Additional power demand for BAU and 100% utilization of surplus energy scenarios.

5. Investment on hydropower plants to replace fossil fuels

Revenue can be generated by selling electricity, saving on fuel import (by replacing conventional vehicle by hydrogen vehicles) and through carbon trading using the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) under Kyoto Agreement. Investment on hydropower plant is calculated at the rate of $1.60 per watt (as Nepal has very rigorous mountain terrain), and cost for gasoline is taken as $3.00 per gallon ($0.8 per liter). The revenue from electricity sale is calculated at the rate of 10 cents per kWh. The carbon is traded at the cost of $7.00 per tonne. Thus, the revenue is generated from CDM, electricity sale and saving on import of fuel. In Fig. 10 the power plant is increased at the rate of 20% per year till 2013 then it is increased at the rate of 15%. Because once
4,500 4,000

the gap is closed, a smaller amount of investment is required for hydropower development to meet only the growing demands of the electricity and fuels. The revenue collected from sale of electricity, saving on import of fossil fuels and carbon trading is not sufcient to meet the investment requirement of the hydropower development. Additional investment of about 13% is required to meet the necessary funding. Using local material, manpower and efcient management and planning the investment cost can be reduced. Fig. 11 represents the investment and the revenue when the investment on hydropower plant is calculated at the rate of $1.00 per watt, and cost for gasoline is taken as $3.00 per gallon ($0.8 per liter). The revenue from the sale of electricity is computed at the rate of 10 cents/ kWh. The carbon is traded at the cost of $12.00 per tonne. Thus, the revenue is generated from CDM, electricity sale and saving on import of fuel.

Revenue from electricity sale, $ (million) Saving on fuel, $ (million) Revenue from CDM, $ (million) Investment, $ (million)

Million US Dollar (cumulative)

3,500 3,000 2,500 2,000 1,500 1,000 500 0

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

Year
Fig. 10 Investment on hydropower plant at the rate of $1.6 per watt and revenue generation from electricity sale, saving on fuel import and CDM.

2020

2020

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4,000 3,500 3,000 Revenue from electricity sale, $ (m illion) Saving on fuel, $ (m illion) Revenue from CDM, $ (m illion) Investm ent, $ (m illion) 2,500 2,000 1,500 1,000 500 0

US Dollar, Million

2013

2015

2017

2018

2005

2006

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2014

2016

2019
600 500 400 300 200 100 0

Year
Fig. 11 Investment on hydropower plant at $1.00 per watt and revenue generation from electricity sale, saving on fuel import and CDM.

As in the previous case, the power plant is increased at the rate of 20% per year initially till 2013 then it is increased at the rate of 15%. The revenue collected from sale of electricity, saving on import of fossil fuels and carbon trading is not only sufcient to meet the investment needed on hydropower development but also a hefty surplus of about US $1 Billion can be materialized by 2020.

6. Electricity generation from hydrogen fuel to meet the peak load demand
The electricity generation is high during the rainy (Monsoon) season and low during the dry season. During the low

generation period it will not meet the peak demand and thus load shedding is introduced. As shown in Fig. 12, the demand for electricity is met from different sources such as hydropower plants, thermal plants and electricity imported from India. The electricity supply from private hydropower companies is growing. Many small hydroplants are constructed or are on the pipeline for construction. NEA itself is planning to construct few hydropower plants like 61 MW Upper Trishuli A, 30 MW Chameliagadh, 27 MW Raghughat and 14 MW Kulekhani III, 309 MW Upper Tamakoshi. Private producers are negotiating with NEA for the construction of 53 MW Upper Marsyangdi, 42 MW Upper Modi A, 20 MW Trishuli III, 14 MW Maikhola, 9.5 MW Seti and other smaller projects [11].

3000

Available energy, GWh

2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0

1997

1998 1999 2000

2001

2002 2003

2004

2005

Import, GWh Pvt co.,GWh Hydro, GWh Thermal, GWh

154.0 210.3 232.4 232.2 226.5 238.3 149.9 186.7 241.4 78.2 83.5 77.3 169.3 501.4 698.0 628.8 838.8 864.8

1096.6 972.0 1046.5 1233.4 1113.4 1113.11478.0 1345.5 1522.9 39.7 107.5 118.8 66.7 27.1 17.0 4.4 9.9 13.7

Peak demand, MW 300.1 317.0 326.4 351.9 391.0 426.0 470.3 515.2 557.5

Year
Fig. 12 Available energy and peak load history.

2020

2007

Peak load, MW

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international journal of hydrogen energy 33 (2008) 40304039

6,000 Surplus energy utilization % for H2 production

Electricity generation, MWh/day

5,000

60%

40%

20%

4,000 Energy deficit on Jan 28, 2007 is 1,300 MWh/day

3,000

2,000

1,000

0 2005 2006 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2007 2008 2009 2020

Fiscal year
Fig. 13 Potential electricity generation from hydrogen using fuel cell.

As a typical example, according to NEA the demand for electricity on January 28, 2007 was for 8.6 million units (kWh) per day [12]. On that day, the countrys hydropower plants were producing only 5.3 million units, 1.9 million units were imported from India, and thermal technology power plants generated 30,000 units. Thus, the total supply of electricity by the authority was 7.23 million units which were short to cover the demand of 8.6 million units. The decit in supply was resorted to load shedding of equivalent to 1.37 million units each day causing serious difculties to the customers and the national economy. This is a regular scenario in Nepal. The demand for electricity will even increase with the introduction of more economic activities in future. The new hydropower plants are not coming soon. There are few hydro projects NEA is initiating and will be realized not before 2010. So, the growing electricity demand forecasted is planned to meet by importing more energy from India causing the national economic burden. Of course in other hand, this scenario can be addressed by hydrogen production during the off-peak load hours as one of the alternatives to meet the growing demand for electricity, particularly during the peak hours. Additionally, in principle, in the rainy season excess hydropower capacity can be stored in the form of hydrogen to use during the dry season to offset the present load shedding requirements. But, of course, it will require substantial hydrogen storing capacity and infrastructure development. For example, the current decit of about 1.3 million units (1.3 GWh) per day of January 28, 2007 would have been met by the electricity produced from hydrogen generated from the utilization of 40% surplus hydropower using fuel cells (Fig. 13). That is, no extra hydropower plant is needed to be constructed for this amount of energy production. However a fuel cell system installation with appropriate capacity will be needed.

7.

Conclusions

Though Nepal has economically viable hydroelectricity potential of 43,000 MW, only less than 1.3% has been harnessed. About 50% of this hydropower energy can be converted to hydrogen during off-peak load that can potentially produce from 27,000 tonnes to 140,000 tonnes of hydrogen with the use of surplus energy at 20% and 100%, respectively by 2020. It can replace about 25% demand of petrol, diesel and kerosene in 2020. At present, Nepals 100% need of petroleum products such as petrol, diesel, kerosene, aviation oil, furnace oil and LPG (cooking gas) is imported by paying the hard currency. These fossil fuels can be completely replaced by hydrogen produced from hydropower incurring relatively a small amount of investment. Using hydrogen generated from off-peak load as a fuel for motor vehicles not only saves money on import of fossil fuels but also reduces harmful emissions and carbon dioxide improving the air quality significantly. This hydrogen also can be used during the peak load hours reducing signicantly the load shedding measures applied by NEA at present.

references

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hydroelectricity in Venezuela. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 2007;32:121924. [6] Grigoriev SA, Porembsky VI, Fateev VN. Pure hydrogen production by PEM electrolysis for hydrogen energy. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 2006;31:1715. [7] Da Sliva EP, Marin Neto AJ, Ferreira PFP, Camargo JC, Apolinario FR, Pinto CS. Analysis of hydrogen production from combined photovoltaics, wind energy, and secondary hydroelectricity supply in Brazil. Solar Energy 2005;78(Issue 5):6707.

[8] Viswanath RP. A patent for generation of electrolytic hydrogen by a cost effective and cheaper route. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 2004;29(Issue 11): 11914. [9] WECS. Water and Energy Commission Secretariat. Nepal: Ministry of Water Resources; 2005. [10] NOC, Prabhat Annual publication of Nepal Oil Corporation Ltd, Babarmahal, Kathamandu, Nepal; 2005. [11] www.ekantipur.com (retrieved on Feb 18, 2007). [12] www.thehimalayantimes.com (retrieved on Jan 28, 2007).