The Kulekhani Dam is a

rock-fill dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, tap water, human consumption, Industri ...

on the Kulekhani River near Kulekhani in

Makwanpur District Makwanpur District( ne, मकवानपुर जिल्ला; , a part of Bagmati Province, earlier a part of Narayani Zone, is one of the seventy-seven districts of Nepal. The district, with Hetauda as its district headquarter, as well ...

Narayani Zone Narayani ( ne, नारायणी अञ्चल) was one of the fourteen zones of Nepal until the restructuring of zones to Provinces, located in the central south of the country. The headquarter of Narayani zone was Hetauda. Narayani Zone i ...

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...

. The primary purpose of the dam is

hydroelectric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and ...

power generation and it supports the 60 MW Kulekhani I and 32 MW Kulekhani II Hydropower Stations. Construction began in 1977 and Kulekhani I was commissioned in 1982. Kulekhani II was commissioned in 1986 and a third power station, the 14 MW Kulekhani III was expected to be commissioned in May 2015 but was delayed due to issues with the builder. The US$117.84 million project received funding from the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...

, Kuwait Fund,

UNDP The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)french: Programme des Nations unies pour le développement, PNUD is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human dev ...

, Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund and OPEC Fund. It is owned by

Nepal Electricity Authority Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), founded on 16 August 1985, is the parent generator and distributor of electric power under the supervision of the government of Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Repu ...

. The tall dam creates a reservoir called Indra Sarobar which stores of water.

Kulekhani I hydropower station

From the reservoir, water is sent to the Kulekhani I Hydropower Station via a headrace tunnel to a gate house which controls the flow of water to the power station. From the gate house water travels down a long

penstock A penstock is a sluice or gate or intake structure that controls water flow, or an enclosed pipe that delivers water to hydro turbines and sewerage systems. The term is inherited from the earlier technology of mill ponds and watermills. H ...

where it reaches the

underground power station An underground power station is a type of hydroelectric power station constructed by excavating the major components (e.g. machine hall, penstocks, and tailrace) from rock, rather than the more common surface-based construction methods. One or mor ...

. It contains two 30 MW

Pelton turbine The Pelton wheel or Pelton Turbine is an impulse-type water turbine invented by American inventor Lester Allan Pelton in the 1870s. The Pelton wheel extracts energy from the impulse of moving water, as opposed to water's dead weight like the trad ...

-generators. The difference in elevation between the reservoir and the power station affords a net

hydraulic head Hydraulic head or piezometric head is a specific measurement of liquid pressure above a vertical datum., 410 pages. See pp. 43–44., 650 pages. See p. 22. It is usually measured as a liquid surface elevation, expressed in units of length, ...

of .

Kulekhani II hydropower station

Water discharged from the Kulekhani I power station enters a series of tunnels and diversions where it reaches the Kulekhani II Hydropower Station which is also located underground and contains two 16 MW

Francis turbine The Francis turbine is a type of water turbine. It is an inward-flow reaction turbine that combines radial and axial flow concepts. Francis turbines are the most common water turbine in use today, and can achieve over 95% efficiency. The proces ...

-generators. The elevation difference between the reservoir and the power station affords a net hydraulic head of . The dam and reservoir are in the

Bagmati River , "Tiger Gate") , source1_location = Shivapuri, Sundarijal, Kathmandu, Nepal , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , mouth = Confluence with Kamala River , mouth_location = Jagmohra, Bihar, India , mouth_coord ...

basin while the power stations are in the Rapti River basin.

Kulekhani III hydropower station

Construction of the Kulekhani III Hydropower Station had been underway since 2008 and is now finally complete as of 2019. The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) had extended the completion deadline of the Kulekhani 3 Hydropower Project for the fifth time to January 2018 as construction was running late due to its slowpoke contractor. The project’s civil contractor Sino Hydro has completed 100 percent of the construction, and there has been full progress in the installation of the turbine, water gate and transmission lines to evacuate the electricity generated by the plant. It will use the tailwaters of Kulekhani II and have an installed capacity of 14 MW.

Gallery

File:Indrasarowar3.jpg, Group of fishermen with their boats by the Kulekhani reservoir. File:A lonely station.jpg, Fishing nets and a lonely fisherman's station at Indrasarovar lake, Kulekhani.

References

{{Commonscat, Kulekhani Lake Dams in Nepal Hydroelectric power stations in Nepal Rock-filled dams Dams completed in 1982 Interbasin transfer Energy infrastructure completed in 1982 Energy infrastructure completed in 1986 Buildings and structures in Makwanpur District Underground power stations 1982 establishments in Nepal Artificial lakes of Nepal