WECAN

Water and Energy Consultants' Association Nepal (WECAN) is a non-profit professional association founded on September 14, 2009. It unites consultants, engineers, and technical experts working in Nepal's water and energy sectors, advocating for their professional interests and contributing technical expertise to sector development. WECAN provides evidence-based recommendations to government bodies, promotes enabling policies for Nepal's energy transition, and organises professional events including annual general meetings, the WECAN Lifetime Achievement Award, and leadership development programmes.

Field of Work
WECAN's mandate centres on representing water and energy consulting professionals, addressing challenges they face in a coordinated way, and advocating for sound policies — particularly around mini and small hydropower development in Nepal's federal governance context. Its members are engaged in the full lifecycle of water and energy projects: feasibility studies, design, environmental assessment, implementation supervision, and impact evaluation.

Technologies Used by WECAN

Mini Hydropower (100 kW – 1 MW)

Mini hydropower plants harness the kinetic and potential energy of flowing water to generate electricity at a scale suitable for small towns, clusters of villages, or industrial users. Nepal's mountainous topography — with hundreds of rivers descending steeply from the Himalayas — makes it one of the most hydropower-rich countries in the world, with an estimated technically feasible potential of over 40,000 MW.

Mini hydro plants typically use a run-of-river design, meaning they divert a portion of river flow through a headrace canal or pipe (penstock) to a powerhouse, without requiring a large storage dam. The water's pressure drives a turbine (commonly a Pelton turbine for high-head sites or a Francis/Kaplan turbine for lower-head sites), which spins a generator to produce electricity. WECAN member consultants handle feasibility assessments (hydrology, topography, load studies), detailed engineering design (civil structures, electro-mechanical sizing), environmental and social impact assessments, and supervision of construction and commissioning.

Small Hydropower (1 MW – 10 MW)

Small hydropower follows the same fundamental principles as mini hydro but at a larger scale, typically serving district-level loads or feeding into the national grid. These projects involve more complex civil engineering — larger intake structures, longer penstacks or tunnels, reinforced powerhouses — and require more rigorous environmental impact assessments and grid interconnection studies. WECAN consultants provide technical advisory services across the entire project development cycle for small hydro projects, from initial resource identification through to grid integration and operational handover.

Water Resource Management and Hydrological Studies

Before any hydropower or water supply project can proceed, detailed hydrological data must be collected and analysed. This includes river discharge measurements (flow rate over time), flood frequency analysis, sediment load assessment, catchment mapping, and climate change projections. WECAN member consultants conduct these studies using field instrumentation (stream gauges, weather stations), GIS-based spatial analysis, and hydrological modelling software. Reliable hydrological data is the foundation of every bankable water or energy project — determining plant capacity, reliability, and long-term viability.

Energy Sector Policy Consulting and Advocacy

Beyond project-level work, WECAN engages in sector-wide policy consulting. This involves preparing technical position papers, contributing to regulatory consultations on electricity tariffs and grid codes, advising government on frameworks for private sector participation in hydropower, and representing the consulting industry's interests in national energy planning processes. Given Nepal's transition to a federal structure, WECAN also advises provincial and local governments on their roles in energy project permitting and oversight.

🌐 www.wecan.org.np | 📧 info@wecan.org.np | 📞 01-5546792
📍 Kupandole, Lalitpur, Nepal