Upper Mai Hydroelectric Project is situated in the Sandakpur rural municipality, Ilam District, Eastern Development Region of Nepal. The Upper Mai Hydroelectric project (12MW) is designed as a run of-river scheme. The project is owned by Panchakanya Mai Hydropower Limited. The hydropower project utilizes a catchment area of 53.00 km², with a design discharge of 3.14 m³/s and a net head of 374.90 m.
The diversion weir is a concrete gravity dam at 1628.0 masl, feeding into a side intake system with two rectangular orifices The project includes a 636.4 m headrace pipe and a 2075 m long inverted D shaped tunnel, connected to a 3.5 m diameter, 32.1 m high surge shaft and a 1516.96 m penstock. The powerhouse located at 1242.2 masl, houses two horizontal-axis Pelton turbines each rated at 5000 kW supported by two 6.6 kV generators.
