Nepal has begun buying an additional 30 MW of power from India in a bid to ease the chronic power shortage in the country during winter, officials said Monday.
Nepal faces up to 16 hours of load-shedding during the season.
“Since Sunday, we have added an additional 30 MW power from India, purchased from the Power Trading Corporation of India,” said Bhuwan Kumar Chetteri, manager of the system operation department of the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA).
The authority is the sole entity for generating and distributing power in the country.
The Power Trading Corporation of India has sold the power to Nepal at a rate of Rs.3.75 (NRs.6) per unit. The additional power import takes Nepal’s total import from India to 165 MW.
Nepal has been requesting India to provide at least 250 MW to meet its increasing power deficit.
“We are in a process to import additional power from various cross border points at this juncture as many cross border lines are being maintained from both sides,” Chetteri told to agency.
Nepal has also been importing power from Indian states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, he said.
Several upgradation and revamp projects are underway to import power from other Indian states as well, he added.
The NEA is aiming to bring down load-shedding to 12 hours this winter by getting more power from India.
Currently, there is a shortfall of 350 MW to meet the requirements as existing capacity is just around 700 MW.
Measures are being taken to reduce power demand, including operating some multi-fuel plants and revamping existing power plants.
Officials said Nepal pays around Rs.22 billion every year for procuring power from India, which includes importing inverters and diesel generators.
Source : SME Times
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Import of additional 30 MW from Tanakpur
” Load-sheding to decrease to west of Lamahi “
KATHMANDU, Dec 1
The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has started to import additional 30 MW of electricity from Tanakpur from Sunday to reduce load-shedding. NEA has procured the electricity with the Power Trading Corporation of India (PTC) Ltd at Rs 6 (IRs 3.75) per unit.
Manager of the System Operation Department of NEA Bhuwan Kumar Chhetri stated that additional electricity for the Far West Region has been imported as the quota of free electricity Nepal has been receiving from India as per the Tanakpur Treaty is exhausting. Nepal receives 70 million units of free electricity annually from Tanakpur point. Chhetri revealed that load-shedding will reduce to the west of Lamahi of Dang due to the additional electricity. There is three hours of daily load-shedding in that region. NEA plans to import 240 MW of electricity from India to limit load-shedding to 12 hours a day this winter. NEA has also signed electricity purchase agreement with the North Bihar State Electricity Company Limited apart from PTC. It plans to import 240 MW of electricity by bringing 120 MW from the 132 KV Kataiya-Kushaha line after upgrading it, and the rest from other points. Up to 170 MW of electricity was imported from India to reduce load-shedding last year. NEA plans to restrict load-shedding to 12 hours a day by importing another 70 MW this year.
There is currently a shortage of over 350 MW in the transmission system as the demand of electricity is 1,075 MW while supply is just around 700 MW including that imported from India. Demand of electricity rises by 80 MW every year. NEA plans to import additional electricity from Kataiya-Kushaha transmission line and other points from coming January. There will, however, be some delay in import of additional electricity due to delay in upgradation of the three-kilometer stretch of Kataiya-Kushaha transmission line on the Indian side. NEA plans to import 70 MW of additional electricity from India, and supply another 40 MW by operating the multi-fuel plants in Biratnagar and Hetauda.
Dependency on India even in electricity
Nepal has started to depend on India even for electricity due to the rising load-shedding. Import of electricity from India is rising in the recent years in lack of increase in investment in the hydropower sector.
Import of electricity has raised trade deficit with India by billions at a time when trade deficit with India is escalating due to import of other goods and services. Around Rs 32 billion had gone abroad in procurement of electricity, diesel generators and inverters last year, according to the Trade and Export Promotion Center.
Source : Karobar Daily
