Kathmandu, January 12

Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) is all set to charge the 132 kV Dhalkebar-Khimti-Lamusangu-Bhaktapur transmission line next week, which will pave way to bring imported power of up to 90 megawatts to Kathmandu, the major load centre of the country.

The move is in line with NEA signing the power purchase agreement (PPA) last month with NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam of India to increase electricity import from existing 120 MW to 160 MW from February 1. In this regard, NEA is preparing to bring the imported power through the newly built transmission line.

As the transmission line is at the shortest distance from Kathmandu, it is more feasible to supply the imported power to Kathmandu using the line, according to Prabal Adhikari, chief of Power Trade Department at NEA. “The risk of voltage fluctuations over a short distance is lower as compared to long distance transmission lines.”

Since the infrastructure of the transmission line project has already been set up, metering arrangement and installation of protection measures are being carried out to bring the imported power to Kathmandu.

“If the safety measures hold up during the test runs next week, NEA will be able to end load-shedding for good in Kathmandu Valley,” said Adhikari.

Apart from this, NEA will be able to import 100 MW from India via Kataiya-Kusaha and Raxaul-Parwanipur, 50 MW from each transmission line, in the peak dry season this year.

According to Adhikari, installation of additional circuit in Kataiya-Kusaha transmission line has been completed under the grant assistance of the Indian government.

“Currently, we are importing 130 MW via Kataiya-Kusaha, which will be increased to 180 MW from January 16,” said Adhikari.

Also, the works of installing high capacity transformer in Parwanipur (Nepal), which had been stalled for sometime after the court issued a stay order based on a case filed by locals, have been resumed recently after NEA won the case. After the completion of transformer installation, NEA will be able to increase power import from Raxaul-Parwanipur to 60 MW from existing 10 MW.

Likewise, power import via Tanakpur-Mahendranagar has been increased to 40 MW recently from around 30 MW earlier. NEA has been importing 25 MW via Ramnagar-Gandak and a small quantum of electricity from other several points — Jaleshwor, Siraha and Nepalgunj.

NEA will be able to import around 500 MW of electricity from India in this dry season against 347 MW in the peak dry season of last year, according to the officials.

In addition, one small-scale project of independent power producers, the 14.9 MW Hewa Khola will be connected to the national grid.

Currently, Kathmandu, Pokhara, Bharatpur and eastern Nepal are not witnessing any power cuts, while load-shedding has been limited to three to four hours in the rest of the country.