When Prime Minister KP Oli promised to end load-shedding within a year in his first address to the nation last week, he was subjected to a lot of ridicule.
However, Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) Managing Director Mukesh Raj Kafle says if the Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur transmission line is completed in time ending load-shedding won’t remain a distant dream.
The construction of the 400 KV cross-border transmission line is expected to be completed by mid-2016. Through the line the NEA can import additional 90MW electricity from India. But that will reduce load-shedding by only two hours.
Nevertheless, if other small and medium-scale hydropower projects are completed this year, load-shedding can be reduced by five hours. The NEA and independent power producers are likely to complete nine hydropower projects by July next year, adding 160 MW more electricity to the national grid.
But independent power producers say they can meet their targets only if they get sufficient diesel to transport construction materials and operate heavy equipment. They say the government must prioritise hydropower projects on the basis of their progress reports and set aside a diesel quota for the projects nearing completion.
The 7 MW Mai Cascade hydropower project, being developed by Sanima Hydropower is almost complete. “We need just 10,000 litres of diesel before we start our test production,” says Sanima’s Subarna Das Shrestha who is also former President of Independent Power Producers Association Nepal (IPPAN).