The 73.5MW Middle Mewa hydropower project has achieved a key milestone with the successful breakthrough of its main headrace tunnel. The project, developed by Mewa Developers (a business unit of Urja Developers), is located in Mikhwa Khola and Meringden Rural Municipality of Taplejung District, Province 1.
The project is a peaking run-of-river (PRoR) scheme, designed to generate 73.5MW of electricity with six hours of daily peaking. Power from the project will be evacuated to the Dhungesanghu/Hangpang substation, approximately 14km from the powerhouse.
Located about 700km northeast of Kathmandu, Middle Mewa is among the few PRoR projects in Nepal. It is designed to use a discharge of 18.76 cubic meters per second, with a gross head of 471.47m and a net rated head of 452.45m. The headrace tunnel extends 5,314m.
Once operational, the plant is expected to produce 436.08 GWh of electricity annually. Access to the site is through a 32km road from Banande Bazar on the Mechi Highway.
