By A Staff Reporter
Kathmandu, Jan. 10: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has received go ahead signal from India to import additional 15 MW of electricity through Tanakpur, India. At present, NEA is importing up to 70 MW of electricity from there at tariff of IRs. 4.14 (Rs. 6.62) per unit.
Hitendra Dev Shakya, acting managing director of NEA, said that up to 85 MW of electricity could now be brought from Tanakpur based on necessity.
Nepal has been getting 70 million units of electricity annually from Tanakpur free of cost as per the Mahakali Treaty, and has been buying the rest.
“Even though there is a 100 MVA transformer in Tanakpur now, we could not bring more than 70 MW of electricity from there without permission. After holding several discussions with Indian authorities, we have been allowed to increase the import capacity to 85 MW for January-March and July-December,” said Shakya.
“We were not able to supply electricity from east to west due to the limitation of the transmission line. However, with more electricity coming from Tanakpur, the power supply in the western region will be improved and the expensive electricity imported from Bihar will be reduced,” he added.
NEA had been facing problems in supplying electricity imported through Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur transmission line from Chapur, in Rautahat district, due to the constraint of transmission line.
Shakya said that once the electricity arrived through Tanakpur, it could be transported to Kathmandu and to the eastern region, and that since the transformer capacity at Dhalkebar substation had been upgraded to 100 MW more electricity could be imported from there.
This will suffice to meet the demand of electricity this winter, he added.
The NEA and Indian company NTPC Vidyut Nigam Limited (NVVN) have signed Power Purchase Agreement (PPA), based on which Nepal can import up to 250 MW in July-November, 350 MW in December-April and 200 MW in May-June periods.