Hydropower infrastructure, the primary source of electricity in Nepal, experienced severe damage following the 2015 Gorkha earthquake sequence, resulting in a 15% loss in the country's energy production. The performance of hydropower infrastructure during and after the sequence was one of the unique focuses of the Geotechnical Extreme Events Reconnaissance (GEER) study. The GEER team visited damaged hydropower projects along the Trishuli and Sunkoshi rivers by road and on foot, along with the ongoing 465-MW Upper Tamakoshi hydropower project by helicopter. The primary cause of damage to the hydropower infrastructure was landslide and rockfall debris falling on powerhouses, penstocks, and dam structures. Moreover, landslides blocked road access to many sites, delaying necessary repairs to damaged structures and resumption of power generation. Power production in Nepal before and after the 2015 Gorkha earthquake sequence, seismic performance of visited hydropower projects, and short- and long-term effects, together with residual risks for Nepal's hydro-power infrastructure, are discussed in this paper.
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Research Article|
December 01, 2017
Hydropower Infrastructure Performance after the 2015 Gorkha, Nepal, Earthquake Sequence
Menzer Pehlivan, M. EERI;
Menzer Pehlivan, M. EERI
a
CH2M, 1100 112th Ave. NE, Bellevue, WA 98004
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Christopher Madden Madugo, M. EERI;
Christopher Madden Madugo, M. EERI
b
Pacific Gas and Electric, 245 Market St., San Francisco, CA 94105
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Amy Macdonald;
Amy Macdonald
c
Thornton Tomasetti, 51 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10010
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Deepak Rayamajhi;
Deepak Rayamajhi
d
CH2M, 1100 NE Circle Blvd., Suite 300, Corvallis, OR 97330
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Youssef M. A. Hashash, M. EERI;
Youssef M. A. Hashash, M. EERI
e
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2230C Newmark Civil Engineering Bldg., Urbana, IL 61801
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Binod Tiwari
Binod Tiwari
f
California State University, Fullerton, 800 N. State College Blvd., E-419, Fullerton, CA 92834
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Earthquake Spectra (2020) 33 (1_suppl): 115–132.
Article history
received:
18 Dec 2016
accepted:
30 Oct 2017
first online:
28 May 2021
Citation
Menzer Pehlivan, Christopher Madden Madugo, Amy Macdonald, Deepak Rayamajhi, Youssef M. A. Hashash, Binod Tiwari; Hydropower Infrastructure Performance after the 2015 Gorkha, Nepal, Earthquake Sequence. Earthquake Spectra 2017;; 33 (1_suppl): 115–132. doi: https://doi.org/10.1193/121816eqs243m
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Index Terms/Descriptors
- Asia
- damage
- dams
- earthquakes
- engineering properties
- epicenters
- hydroelectric energy
- Indian Peninsula
- infrastructure
- Kathmandu Nepal
- landslides
- main shocks
- mass movements
- Nepal
- power plants
- production
- rockfalls
- slope stability
- stability
- structures
- Trishuli River
- Sunkoshi River
- Tamakoshi River
- Gorkha earthquake 2015
Latitude & Longitude
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