Kathmandu, Sept 29: The Nepal Electricity Authority is preparing to increase electricity imports from India to prevent load shedding during the upcoming dry season.
NEA Executive Director Dirghayu Kumar Shrestha said the authority plans to import up to 1,154 MW of electricity from India to maintain a balance between supply and demand.
Under the plan, Nepal will import 600 MW through the Dhalkebar Muzaffarpur transmission line, 54 MW through the Tanakpur Mahendranagar link, 350 MW from various points in Bihar and another 150 MW through the RTC mechanism.
Shrestha said Nepal imported up to 800 MW during peak hours in the previous dry season.
Domestic electricity generation during the coming dry season is estimated at 1,218 MW. Combined with planned imports, total electricity availability could reach 2,372 MW.
Nepal’s peak national electricity demand stood at 2,292 MW during the previous dry season. Shrestha said demand has not increased significantly this year and is expected to remain close to last year’s level.
However, recent floods and landslides have taken a substantial amount of generation capacity out of the national grid.
Floods and landslides in Asoj have knocked 317 MW of generation capacity offline. An additional 430 MW remains out of the system following the August 26 (Bhadra 10) floods in the Bhotekoshi and Trishuli rivers.
People’s News Monitoring Service
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