According to date 2071/2/23 nepal government secretariat level meeting decision , CDE suresh shrestha and engineer ukesh shrestha are selected for loadshedding minimisation program of installing solar energy center with co-ordination of local office of nea visit Mid Western region for selection and verification of probable land area and report to Nepal government.Mid Western Development Region is the largest development region in terms of area. Like the other development regions it has Terai, Hill and Mountain region as the ecological belt. This region consists of 3 zones namely Karnali, Bheri and Rapti and 15 districts namely Humla, Mugu, Dolpa, Jumla, Kalikot, Jajarkot, Rukum, Dailekh, Surkhet, Salyan, Rolpa, Pyuthan, Dang, Banke, Bardia with 6 municipalities. The region lies within the Latitude of 2737 (Dang) to 3010 (Humla) and Longitude of 8554 (Dang) to 8118 (Humla). The elevation above mean sea level of the MWR varies from 7,337m of the Nalkankad peak of Humla to 129m in Banke district. The MWR is vulnerable to several types of natural disasters including droughts, floods (particularly in Banke, Bardiya and Dang), landslides, hailstorms, extreme cold spells and epidemics. There are also risks of earthquakes as the region lies on a major tectonic fault line. It has 3022210 (13.0 % of total) population and 42378 square kilometers area. The population of here is more in Terai region than in hilly and mountain region. This region is mainly drained by Karnali river system. The main rivers of this region are Humla karnali, Mugu karnali, Thuli bheri, Rapti and Babai. Forest has covered 28.2 % of total land of this region where different species of plants and animals are found. Most part of this region is rocky with steep hills and mountains. So, infrastructure of development is low in this region. Nepalgunj, Tulsipur and Tikapur are industrial corridors.We found that the electricity crisis ,voltage fluctuation is giving lot of problems to locals.

Main Objective:

1) To Identify suitable land/location for the Solar plant installation of size greater than 25 MW for Loadshedding minimization program

Methodology:

For the selection of probable land area , we prioritized as below

a) land of NEA

b) land of Nepal government

c) land of Canal project such as Sikta and Babai irrigation project

We limited our search to only unutilised barren land,with low number of trees and low number of refuges.

Similarly , only those sites land area with buffer of 10-15 km away from 132 kv transmission line were analysed.Only south oriented slope land were analysed with good insolation. Transmission line map of Nepal is shown in annex. Transmission Line of 132 kv is accessible from Bardiya ,Surkhet,Banke ,Salyan,Dang ,Pyuthan and Rolpa.Limitations:

Our study depends on the information from officers of NEA,Locals/residents,driver of NEA,CDO,Forestry officer and Napi officer. Data may not be accurate accordingly .

Result:

Task 1:

For the study to be carried out we visited banke,Nepalgunj. Since our first priority was to identify the probable land area at NEA premises. We visited the regional office of NEA , nepalgunj for the information. We were informed that NEA doesnt hold any big areas of land greater than 2 bigha of its own premises near 132 KV sub station.Jhupra power house located at surkhet has 7 bigha but its far from the 132 kv substation. Further, we visited Lamahi sub station,Kohalpur Sub Station,Nepalgunj sub station,Gulariya Sub station and Dhampur S/S being constructed. We couldnt find any probable area at NEA premises. Most substation was near forestry with no probable land extension. Sub station and Distribution center System at mid western are shown below with voltage level.

NameVoltage levelRemarks

Gulariya S/S132 KVNo area

Pahalwanpur S/S132 kvUnder construction /No probability

Kohalpur S/S132 KVNo area

Kusum S/S132 KVUnder construction/No area

Lamahi S/S132 KVNo area

Hapure S/S132 kvUnder construction/No area

Ghorahi S/S132 kvUnder construction

Nepalgunj regional Office33 kvNo area

Nepalgunj DCs33 kv1-2 bigha

Gulariya DCS33 kv

Ghorahi DCS33 kv

Tulsipur DCS33 kv

Surkeht DCS33 kv

Salyan DCS11 kv

Pyuthan DCS33 kv

Dailekh DCS11 kv

Rolpa DCS33 kv

Dhampur S/S33 kvUnder const

Heldung DCSIsolated

Ghumghad DCSIsolated

Kalikot DCSIsolated

Task 2After completion of first task, we went in search for big areas of Nepal government where probably we can install solar power plant above 25 MW. With discussions with NEA regional office director, CDO banke nepalgunj, Forestry officer, Napi officer possible area may be those 100 bighas of land captured by refuges(sukumbasi ) at kohalpur, large land (approx 200 biga)captured by APF training center. We searched for the degraded forest zones too but couldnt find any significant large area.On the way to Dang, we found 5-7 bigha of yellani land as told by locals at ameliya dang near temporary police office. Another identified area we found is at binauna VDC,alinagar. From available map its area was 9 bigha 8 katha 13 dhur. But since Rapti river has changed the path , it has further extendend land above 20 bigha. Till date land is barren with small area of forest.After no possible land , we visited sikta irrigation project and found that its planned length is 48 km and till date it has constructed 34 km. Top width of canal is 23 m and is east west oriented. It has right of way of 60 m. Total area if only canal top width is used it will be more than 100 bigha. Since land disputes have been solved,detail feasibility can be studied further.Babai irrigation project with 35 km planned can also be used with no land issues

Conclusion and recommendationPeople we metMR Om Prakash Rathi ,director of regional head office

MR Ram bahadur buddhathoki, administrative officer

MR Tanka Prasad giri , Electrical Engineer

Mr Ganga Prasad upadhaya, Supervisor

CDO, jeevan Prasad oli District Forest officer, Jaya Mangal prasad Napi Adhikrit, Amir Prasad nyaupaneSikta director, Saroj Pandit

Sikta engineer, Prem raj ghimire

Nikunja adhikrit, Barna bahadur thapa

Visit to sukumbasi basti capturing land photo near kohalpur s/s in

Visit to nearby sitta nahar irrigation project width 23 m length ? photo

Visit to aggaiya (intake of sitta nahar)

Visit to kusma s/s being constructed( capturing nikunja ban) no possible area

Visit to khaskusma VDC (no presence of secretary) in talk provided suggestion to visit another side of rapti river Visit to lamahi s/s ( no possible area made in samudaiyak ban)

We saw 5-7 bigha of yellani in ameliya dang

visited to Dhampur S/s (under construction) with no probable area

on the way found some >20 bigha yelani jagga at alinagar as said by local

near to alinagar ,vagara,binauna ga bi sa >50 bigha of yelani jagga or sirsamai vawani about approx 15 km from Kohalpur S/S Map of Mid western

Transmission map with 132 kv line of Mid western region.

Fig babai project