KATHMANDU, 21: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) plans to reduce electricity loss, both technical and non-technical, to 10 percent by 2020 from existing 25 percent.
To achieve the target, it plans to implement different programs like introducing automated meter reading for households and GIS-based monitoring of the energy supply and management.
In order to streamline its supply system, NEA plans to add substations and transformers as per the need. Similarly, it plans to install conductors in different places as part of its Energy Efficiency Project which is being implemented under soft loan of US$ 87 million.
NEA´s system loss stood at 25.11 percent of total energy generation in 2013/14. The loss is worth around Rs 7 billion. If the power utility´s plan of reducing system loss to 10 percent materializes, it will save about Rs 4.14 billion annually. If total energy supply by 2020 is taken into account, NEA´s saving will increase nearly two-fold.
NEA´s Deputy Managing Director Ramchandra Pandey said NEA will devise Distribution Master Plan and Loss Reduction Master Plan will within one and half years. The plans will be implemented immediately thereafter, he added.
Technical and non-technical loss in energy supply system will be monitored from three different layers — from the head office, regional offices and distribution centers through GIS technology. NEA will also install automatic metering system by displacing the existing analog meters in the households.
NEA´s non-technical loss (meter tampering and hooking of lines) currently stands at 9 percent.
The Energy Efficiency Project is a part of Grid Solar and Energy Efficiency Project that the Ministry of Finance signed with World Bank on Friday. Total cost of the project is $130 million.
NEA is already implementing a project to increase energy efficiency under the assistance of Asian Development Bank. The project is phasing out in March.
According to officials, time of day (ToD) meters were introduced in industries hubs as part of the project. Similarly, supply system has been introduced by adding transformers as per the needed. Officials say the project has become successful in reducing energy loss by one percentage point in the last two fiscal years.
NEA officials said the new project will be implemented in a planned manner.
25 MW of solar power within one year
Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) plans to connect 25 MW of solar power in its supply system within a year.
As per the agreement that the finance ministry signed with the World Bank on Friday, the government plans to procure solar power system for installation in four places. It will take eight months for installations.
This will be the largest solar power system in the country. The 680-KW solar plant in Sundarighat of Lalitpur is the largest solar power system in operation in Nepal.
Solar power systems will be installed on the premises of NEA´s powerhouses in Pharping, Kelekhani, Trishuli and Devighat. They will generate power during daytime only. The project will cost $43 million.
NEA´s Deputy Managing Director Ramchandra Pandey said that the plant to be build at the cost of Rs 170 million per MW will be installed shortly.
The project cost also includes maintenance and operation cost for the first five years. Per MW generation cost of hydropower projects stand at around Rs 150 million.
Source : Republica
