Nepal Govt to add 145 MW by mid-March

Kathmandu: There may be some respite for electricity consumers suffering long outage hours in that the government hopes to add 145 MW to the national grid by mid-March, officials said.

However, before that, load shedding will go up to 16 hours a day in the third week of February because the water level in the rivers will further decrease.

The current supply from hydro power is 255 MW of the total 366 MW available. Power generated from hydro plants will go down to 200 MW in February. The current peak demand in the country is 770 MW.

Speaking at an interaction on Wednesday, Sher Singh Bhat, director at the System Operations Department of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), said the installation and repair of transmission lines at four places in areas bordering India to facilitate additional power import from India in the next couple of months may reduce the existing power cuts.

According to Bhat, at least 45 MW will be added to the national grid if only one of the two towers destroyed during the Koshi floods is repaired in two months. The government is working to repair both
towers and add 90 MW to the national grid.

The laying of transmission lines and repair of the two destroyed towers are among the immediate programmes included in the government's 'Working Plan on National Energy Crisis Mitigation - 2065'. The government has sought help from the Indian government for construction of the transmission line.

Shankar Prasad Koirala, secretary at the Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR) said, the installation of new transmission lines between Nepal and India started Wednesday.

According to him, a total of 65 MW will be added to the national grid with the laying and maintenance of four transmission lines by April -- 25 MW on the Farbisgunj-Biratnagar line, 15 MW on the Jaynagar-Siraha line, 5 MW on the Sitamadi-Jaleshwor line and 20 MW on the Raxaul-Birgunj line.

Meanwhile, 20 MW imported from Tanakpur, India is being added to the national grid from Thursday and another 35 MW will be added to the national supply by the end of January from the 70-MW Mid-Marshyangdi Hydro Electric Project. The remaining 35 MW will be generated from the second turbine by the end of February.

Similarly, he said, the government is working to minimise load-shedding hours in next five years. According to government forecasts, the maximum load shedding hours will be 10 hours, 14 hours, 16 hours, 10 hours and six hours respectively for the next five years.

Decrease in water level in the rivers is expected to lower generation by 1 million units, of energy. The current demand is 10.8 million units whereas the current supply is 7 million units of energy.