Khimti Cascade
- Page status
- Working page
- Updated
- 2026-05-13
The Khimti Khola in Dolakha district is one of Nepal's earlier IPP-developed hydropower corridors. The cascade includes multiple projects at different stages, with the original Khimti-I plant serving as one of the country's first large private hydropower investments.
Summary
Khimti Cascade is a Dolakha hydropower corridor centered on Khimti Khola projects at operating, construction, and survey stages. The page groups the corridor so Khimti-I, Khimti-II, and smaller upstream/downstream projects can be read as a shared evacuation and development context.
Plants in the Cascade
| Plant | Capacity (MW) | Status | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Khimti -I | 60 | Operating | Himal Power Limited |
| Khimti II | 48.8 | Under construction | — |
| Upper Khimti | 12.0 | Under construction | — |
| Upper Khimti II | 7.0 | Under construction | — |
| Khimti Ghwang Khola | 9.8 | Survey | — |
| Total | ~137.6 |
Significance
Khimti-I (commissioned 2000) was one of Nepal's first major private hydropower projects and helped establish the BOOT (Build-Own-Operate-Transfer) model that subsequent IPPs followed. The Khimti corridor became a test case for whether private developers could execute large hydropower projects in Nepal's challenging Himalayan geology.
Transmission
The Khimti–Dhalkebar 220 kV Hydropower Corridor (220 kV) was purpose-built to evacuate power from the Khimti Khola plants into the national grid backbone, connecting the Dolakha valley to the Dhalkebar substation on the east-west corridor.
Context
The Khimti Khola is a tributary of the Tamakoshi River in the Koshi Basin. The broader Khimti-Tamakoshi corridor in Dolakha includes multiple significant projects including Upper Tamakoshi (456 MW), Tamakoshi V (99.8 MW), and Tamakoshi 3 (287 MW).
Limitations & Controversies
The page is a corridor overview rather than a complete project-by-project due-diligence record. Developer details, commissioning status, cost, hydrology, and evacuation risk vary across the individual projects and should be checked on the linked entity pages before analytical use.