The government will commence wiring works for Bharatpur, Kathmandu and Lalitpur in the first phase of the project.

The electricity wires will be laid underground and is to reach every house. According to the Nepal Electrical Authority (NEA), the work will be completed in three phases. The NEA had earlier planned to replace all the open wires with optical fibers.

The project will first cover all the three districts in the Kathmandu Valley and will then be extended to the other parts of the country, said the NEA.

Currently, the work to lay electricity wires underground in Ratnapark, Kathmandu and Mahargunj is in the survey stage of the instrument-examination phase. The work is being undertaken by the Indian contractor company AEI Industries, who started the work after receiving funds within the deadlines.

The AEI will be laying the transmission line of 11 kv for close to 400 km in Ratnapark and 400 v for about 350 km in Kathmandu.

In the Kathmandu urban area, the wires providing services such as cable, internet and telephone are found hanging overhead.

NEA Executive Director Kulman Ghising says that laying the wires underground will reduce the instances of accidents and will uplift the look of the city, besides ensuring an effective supply of electricity.

The post Kathmandu Valley to Become Nepal’s First Open-Wire Free Space appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

The authority projected a profit increase of 149 percent from FY 2017-18, where it recorded a profit of NPR 2.9 billion.

Nepal Minister for Energy, Water Resource and Irrigation Barsha Man Pun organized a press meet on August 13, 2019 to speak about progress in the electricity sector and its future plans.

Speaking about power leakage, Minister Pun said that it has been reduced to 15.32 percent in FY 2018-19 from 20.45 percent in FY 2017-18.

NEA Managing Director Kulman Ghising said that distribution contributes to 11 percent of leakage while technical leakage contributes to 4 percent.

“We have reached South Asian standard in controlling distribution leakage. Now, we need to focus on technical leakage,” said Ghising.

Besides, the authority has stepped up action against leakages by running campaigns to control power theft, control leakage, improve the situation of distribution lines and sub-lines and tighten payment of due bills.

Minister Pun also updated the press, stating that the number of consumers connected to the national grid have increased by 10 percent in FY 2018-19.

He also revealed that a new electricity act is being formed in line with Nepal’s federal structure after conducting talks with the respective stakeholders.

Pun said that the government is also targeting to completely eliminate the usage of cooking gas, diesel and petrol and replace them with electricity.

“We are about to finalize the criteria for establishing vehicle charging stations to encourage electric vehicles,” said Pun.

The Energy Minister added that the government is also thinking of creating a policy to promote electric cooking in every household.

However, the NEA has still incurred a loss of NPR 15.22 billion. On a positive note, the authority has been reducing its cumulative loss over the last three years, which was NPR 25.59 billion in FY 2017-18, NPR 28.17 billion in 2016-17 and NPR 34.61 billion in 2015-16.

Moreover, NEA which was making an annual loss of NPR 8.89 billion in FY 2015-16 is making continuous profits after Ghising was made its Managing Director.

In another interesting update, Minister Pun said that preparations to make Kathmandu wireless were underway.

“We have already selected the contactor and the initial preparation has already started,” said Pun.

It’s time Nepal seriously considered switching to electricity for its commercial and household purposes, especially with the burden that the swelling LPG imports brings on Nepal’s already widening trade deficit.

The post FY 2018-19: NEA Projects 149 Pc Increase in Net Profit appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

“The amount we import depends on the total demand, so it keeps going up or down,” explained NEA’S Suresh Bhattarai.

Surprisingly, on January 26, 2019 58 percent of the total electricity in Nepal was met by Indian imports which was highly unexpected.

Earlier, NEA Managing Director Kulman Ghising informed that Nepal would be importing up to 500MW electricity this winter. However, the imported amount exceeded the estimate by 153MW.

NEA explains that the important is required to fulfill Nepal’s immediate needs and prevent the economic costs of resuming power cuts.

“If we compare the cost of importing 500MW electricity to the loss that Nepal’s industries would incur without that electricity, then the loss is much higher,” said Ghising.

“It will take many years for us to construct 500MW hydropower plants. But the power is immediately available for import, which is economically more beneficial for us,” he added.

In 2018, Nepal spent NPR 20 billion importing electricity from India apart from NPR 90 billion spent on petroleum imports.

Although NEA has not officially declared load-shedding, but many areas in Nepal have been experiencing power cuts since December 2018.

“The distribution systems and transmission lines are overloaded, and that has led to transformers exploding and feeders catching fire. These incidents have led to electricity service being interrupted, it cannot be called load-shedding,” revealed Bhattarai.

Nepal Steps Foot in Indian Power Exchange Market

Meanwhile, a recent update suggests that India has agreed to let Nepal enter its power exchange market.

With this new development, Nepal can become a player in India’s open power trade.

The proposal was agreed by both sides at a meeting of Nepal-India energy secretaries in Pokhara last week.

Ghising says Nepal will participate in the market through its energy trade companies, unlike earlier when it would trade electricity through government-to-government agreements.

According to the NEA Managing Director, this is a remarkable achievement for Nepal as its need for electricity fluctuates often. With presence in India’s power exchange market, it can easily sell surplus and buy the required amount.

The post Nepal Forced to Import More Than Half of Electricity From India appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

As per the NEA Spokesperson Prabal Adhikari, the total capacity of the projects is 1,051 MW.

All the projects have private sector investments and their promoters were urged to complete the fiscal management soon.

Among the companies that signed the deal with NEA, Arati Hydro Power Company had signed the agreement on the very first day of the current fiscal and has also acquired the generation license for the 14 MW Upper Irkhuwa Hydropower Project in Bhojpur district.

Likewise, NEA signed the purchase agreement for 12 MW Dudhukunda Khola hydropower project in Sankhuwasabha and the 1.5 MW upper Gadigadh Project.

It will also be signing a PPA for 12 additional projects totaling to 70 MW capacity in future.

The Nepal Government aims to generate 15,000 MW power by the next 10 years making Nepal a self-sufficient country in terms of power production.

NEA Opts for Take-or-Pay Modality
Meanwhile, a long dispute between Nepal’s Energy Ministry and Nepal Electrical Authority was put to rest on December 11, 2018 after the latter agreed to sign PPAs with run-of-the-river hydro projects under the take-‘or’-pay modality, until their combined installed capacity is at 5,250 MW.

According to an important source from the authority, the Board of Directors of NEA decided to convert all the take-‘and’-pay projects into take-‘or’-pay modality. This also includes signing future pacts under the same.

It also allows NEA to buy and pay for energy from hydro projects as and when needed. As per the new system, it has to buy the required amount of electricity or pay a fine if it fails to do so.

Currently, NEA still has a combined installed capacity of 1,247 MW in the take-‘and’-pay-format.

Initially, the electrical authority was hesitant to adopt the take-‘or’-pay modality. However, the board meeting chaired by Energy Minister Barsha Man Pun took this decision.

The post NEA Attests 52 Project Power Agreements in 5 Months appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

With nearly 107 hydropower projects in the pipeline and collective capacity of 2,356 MW, the Nepal Electrical Authority (NEA) is spearheading its way to its 3,000 MW-target by 2021.

Most of these projects are in different stages of construction and will be completed by next year. Going by the progress report of ‘under-construction’ projects, the said target will be easily met by the deadline.

Listed among ‘Nepal Pride Projects’, the Upper Tamakoshi is close to completion and should be completed by next year according to NEA estimates.

Government and Ministerial Co-operation:
The government has promised power supply to every nook and corner of Nepal.

Nepal Minister of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation (MoEWI) Barshaman Pun has pledged all possible support to get the projects completed as per the deadlines.

Nepal Electricity Authority Executive Director Kulman Ghising said projects were being monitored from time to time.

“If things are going as per the details provided to us, the government is likely to meet the target well before the deadline,” said Pun.

To propel its commitment of electricity provision to the entire country, the government has put utilization of biogas, solar plants and wind energy on its ‘priority’.

Conclusion:
As per NEA, 74 projects with a collective capacity of generating 1,658 MW electricity did not make any breakthrough due to lack of funds.

On a larger ambition, the Government has committed to increasing its power generating capacity to 5,000 MW in another five years.

With the speed at which things are progressing, we are sure that the Government will achieve this deadline too.

The post Nepal to Meet Hydel Projects Deadline ‘On Time’! appeared first on Nepali Sansar.