Tanahun, 20 March 2023. Saranghat substation of 33-11 KV constructed in Ward No. 6 of Bandipur Rural Municipality of Tanahun has been inaugurated. Executive Director of Nepal Electricity Authority Kulman Ghising and Head of Asian Development Bank (ADB) Nepal Housing Mission Arno Kushwa jointly inaugurated the substation on Monday.
The Saranghat substation was built under the social development program of the 140 MW Tanahun hydropower project, which is being constructed by Tanahun Hydropower Ltd., a subsidiary of Nepal Electricity Authority.
In the opening program, Executive Director Ghising said that work is underway to provide access to electricity to all Nepalese homes within two years. “We are in the last mile of electrification to fulfill the goal of the Nepalese government to bring electricity to the homes of all Nepalis. For this, most of the contract agreements have been completed, along with this, we are working extensively to improve the system to make the supply reliable and quality in the places where electricity has reached,” Ghising said. Mentioning the great support of the Asian Development Bank in electrification, he thanked everyone who helped in the construction of the substation.
Pointing out that Nepal has achieved significant progress in electrification in the last one decade, the head of Nepal Housing Commission Kushwa said, ‘The annual growth rate of electricity access in the world is 0.8 percent on average, compared to this, Nepal’s rate is much faster i.e. 4.3 percent. We appreciate it.” He said that ADB’s investment in Nepal’s infrastructure sector will continue.
The transmission line constructed through the ‘Tanahun Rural Electrification and Distribution Network Improvement Project’ implemented by the Authority’s Project Management Directorate was completed and the substation construction was completed and put into operation on Friday.
The 33 KV transmission line from Markichok substation in Ambukhareni rural municipality to Dumre in Bandipur rural municipality has been tapped. The construction of 19 km long 33 KV line, which taps the transmission line at Bandipur Rural Municipality Ward No. 5 Yampaphant to Saranghat Substation, has also been completed. Out of this, 1,130 meters of transmission line has been buried underground.
Under the social development program of the Tanahun hydropower project, substations and transmission lines have been constructed to electrify the project-affected Tanahun district and to make the power supply sufficient, reliable and of good quality. Under the project, 19 km 33 KV transmission line from Khairenitar substation to Ghiring at Shuklagandaki municipality-5 position in Tanahun district and 33-11 KV Ghiring substation have already been completed and are operational.
A power transformer of 6-8 MVA capacity is placed in Saranghat substation. Locally, three feeder lines of 11 KV have been taken out from the substation for power supply. A feeder is kept in reserve. Electricity is being supplied to Ambukhaireni, Bandipur and Devghat Rural Municipality of Tanahun through the substation. Due to this, the consumers of that area have got reliable and quality electricity supply.
The head of the project, Bodhraj Dhakal, mentioned that Tanahun district has basically been fully electrified and said that the project will be closed after completing the capitalization work within two months.
For the construction of two substations and the electrification of Tanahun, a contract agreement was signed with Ishta India Udyog / Vaiva Infratech JV in November 2075. The project, which has an estimated cost of about 80 million US dollars, has been implemented with the investment of the Government of Nepal and the Electricity Authority and the concessional loan of the Asian Development Bank. 220 km feeder line and 350 km distribution line have been constructed from the project.
