KATHMANDU, OCTOBER 31
In bid to increase domestic consumption and export surplus power to India and Bangladesh, Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) is set to further expand and strengthen the transmission and distribution system across the country.
A high-level team, including Managing Director of the NEA Kulman Ghising, Head of Distribution and Customer Service Directorate Manoj Silwal, Head of Broadcasting Directorate Dirghayu Kumar Shrestha visited Sunsari, Morang and Jhapa on Saturday and Sunday in order to obtain the information about necessary infrastructure for escalation of electricity consumption and export.
The team has carried out onsite inspection to identify the possibility of constructing an inland power transmission line between the Indian state of West Bengal, the shortest route for power export to Bangladesh, as well as feasible locations for the construction of transmission lines and substations.
Likewise, the team also conducted an on-site study and got information about the electricity transmission and distribution infrastructure that are under construction and currently in operation in Sunsari, Morang and Jhapa.
According to NEA MD Ghising, the NEA is going to expand the transmission and distribution infrastructure to make the electricity supply reliable and smooth and to target the places where there is a possibility of settlement expansion and establishment of industrial corridors.
"In the long term, it is seen that India's Siliguri, Purnia and Kishanganj points will be closer to India and Bangladesh for electricity export, so it is necessary to expand the transmission network by constructing a 400 kV transmission line from the 400 kV Inaruwa substation around the Postal Highway and construct a 400 kV substation in the Anarmani area of Jhapa," Ghising informed.
"This transmission line is essential and with this, the power supply in that area will be reliable and smooth, and consumption will increase, while more transmission networks will be prepared for the export of electricity to India and Bangladesh," he added.
Meanwhile, the team led by Ghising also visited Siliguri Substation 400-220 kV Binnaguri of Power Grid India in West Bengal and got information about electricity trade.
The power produced by Bhutan's Tala hydroelectric project is connected to that substation. The authority's high-level team also discussed with project management and construction companies about the construction progress of substations under construction at Gwaldubba in Jhapa, Keroun in Morang, Inaruwa in Sunsari and Kushaha. The team requested that the substations be completed as soon as possible as they are important for reliable power supply.
A version of this article appears in the print on November 1, 2022 of The Himalayan Times.
