Nepal urges India to supply additional 90MW power amid power deficit

KATHMANDU: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has urged India’s Bihar government to supply an additional 90 Mega Watt (MW) of power to Nepal. This is to deal with the power deficit that the country is currently going through. This is excluding the 90MW that Nepal has currently been importing from India. To deal with this power deficit NEA is compelled to cut power in Bara-Parsa industrial corridor for over a month now. The Transmission of power from Bihar to Birgunj through Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur transmission line is a difficult task due to its low capacity. Currently, Nepal is supplied with power from Bihar through Raxaul and Ramnagar areas. According to a report, the output capacity of Nepal's power project is 2,200MW. However, most of these projects are run-of-the-river type so the project generates 40% lesser power during the dry season from December to April. This has reduced the total power output by 800MW. The current demand for power is at 1,683MW. According to NEA Spokesperson Suresh Bhattarai, the government has urged Bihar government to supply an additional 90MW of electricity. He said, the Indian state government has agreed to supply the additional power, however, there is a challenge in bringing through the existing single circuit cross-border line. Meanwhile, the Bihar government is making improvements to the transmission lines with necessary technical adjustments. According to the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, there are a dozen cross-border transmission lines between Nepal and India of 33kV, 132kV and 400kV capacities. Only the Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur Cross Border Transmission Line has 400kV capacity, which can transport around 1,000MW of power. Other 11 cross-border transmission lines can transport just between 5MW and 125MW power. Nepal and India have a power exchange setup in a place where both countries can buy and sell power. Nepal and India will hold a meeting of the joint secretary, Joint Working Group and the secretary-level Joint Steering Committee to discuss the upgradation of cross border transmission line in February this year. The electricity price has been fixed at INRs 6.18 per unit through the 132kV transmission line and INRs 6.65 per unit through the 33kV transmission line. According to Birgunj Chamber of Commerce and Industries President Subodh Kumar Gupta, it has been difficult to run factories since NEA has not officially declared or issued the load-shedding schedule in Birgunj, one of the key industrial belts in Nepal. By RSS/ANI READ ALSO:

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