Upper Trishuli-1

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   Upper Trishuli 1 (“UT1” or the “Project”) is a proposed 216 MW greenfield run of river hydropower project located on the Upper Trishuli river in Nepal. The project is being developed by a Nepalese special purpose vehicle, Nepal Water & Energy Development Company Pvt. Ltd. (“NWEDC” or the “Company”).  The project will sell power to Nepal Electricity Authority (“NEA”), the national utility, for domestic supply under a 30-year power purchase agreement (“PPA”).  The project will be developed on a Build, Own, Operate and Transfer (“BOOT”) basis under a 35-year concession agreement (Project Development Agreement or “PDA”) with the Government of Nepal’s (“GoN”) Ministry of Energy (“MOE”). If constructed, UT-1 will be one of the largest Foreign Direct Investment (“FDI”) in Nepal to date, increasing the country’s domestic power supply by approximately one-third compared to 2018 levels and providing about 40% of its expected 1,427 GWh of annual output during the dry season, which includes the peak winter demand months. The project’s expected commissioning date is October 2024.The project consists of a 100.9-m-wide and 29.5-m high diversion dam in a narrow gorge located in the Trishuli River 275 m downstream of the confluence of the Langtang Khola (tributary) with the Bhote Khosi River, about 70 km to the north-east of Kathmandu. The diversion dam will create a small 2.1 ha impoundment and divert, via two intake tunnels each with a gate size of 3.35 x 6.50 meters and a total length of approximately 285 meters,  up to 76 m3/s of water through a powerhouse with a 216 MW capacity, returning the water to the Trishuli River approximately 10.7 km downstream of the dam. The project is designed to operate continuously as a run-of-river facility and will connect to a new Chilime–Trishuli transmission line via a 1.1-km long, high voltage extension from the UT-1 take-off yard. The Chilime-Trishuli line is being constructed for the purposes of linking several existing and planned upstream hydropower projects into the grid and has therefore not been identified as an Associated Facility to the UT-1 project according to IFC PS 1 requirements. The project will be accessed via existing public roads, but NWEDC is in the process of constructing an 11.84 km access road on the right bank of the river to link the dam and powerhouse locations. Project construction will also require the establishment of five worker camps (3 for workers and 2 for EPC staff - with associated accommodations, diesel power generation sets, fuel storage, water and wastewater treatment plants), four quarries, one crushing plant, three batch plants, several construction/equipment yards, and nine spoil disposal areas. It is noteworthy that social impact assessment and mitigation were substantially complicated by an earthquake in 2015 which devastated the project area and scattered the inhabitants of ten directly affected settlements across a range of internally displaced persons’ camps, where some of them still reside. The earthquake also impacted project ESIA timelines and findings and led to a protracted series of studies and follow-up surveys over the course of three and a half years.Early disclosure of draft Updated ESIA documentation took place on March 23rd, 2018; and after review and comments by multiple stakeholder including the broader Lenders’ group, it is now disclosed in its final form together with this ESRS and ESAP.