Power from private producers to be linked to national grid

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu, Apr. 26: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has taken initiative to connect the completed private sector hydropower projects to the national transmission line as soon as possible.

The work of transmission line under construction will be completed immediately to prevent wastage of electricity generated by private sector hydropower projects due to lack of transmission line, said NEA.

After it became public that the projects completed in Lamjung could not be connected due to lack of transmission line, the top management of NEA visited under construction hydropower projects in the Dordi and Ngadi rivers and inspected the transmission line under construction to get information about the construction progress.

A team led by NEA Managing Director Kul Man Ghising inspected the projects on Saturday.

The team visited Dordi Corridor 132 kV transmission line being constructed by NEA in Lamjung, 30 MW Ngadi Hydropower, 27 MW Dordikhola of Himalayan Power Partner, 25 MW Upper Dordi 'A' of Liberty Energy and 12 MW Dordi-1 of Dordikhola Hydropower Company.

The team discussed with the concerned officials about the construction progress of these projects so far and the schedule of completion.

MD Ghising urged to complete the construction of the projects as soon as possible as the situation would not be created to waste electricity due to lack of electricity in the transmission line.

The NEA had completed construction of the 11 km Kirtipur-Udipur 132 kV Double Circuit Transmission Line (Dordi Corridor) and substation in Kirtipur to connect Dordi Khola Hydropower Project to the national grid.

However, four out of 33 towers of the project were washed away by the flood in the Dordi River on 15 June 2021.

The floods also caused severe damage to private sector hydropower projects, which are in the final stages of construction.

At present, four towers of the transmission line and hydropower projects are being reconstructed. This work is targeted to be completed by mid-May this year.

He said, "Instead of blaming each other, let's work together as soon as possible, let's not delay the work saying there is no transmission line, the contractor had to complete the construction immediately by paying attention to the sensitivity of the transmission line."

He said that the work of Dordi Khola and Dordi-1 Hydropower Project will be completed soon and it will take some time for Upper Dordi.

The management of the Dordi Khola project informed that they are working with the aim of starting power generation within 20 days after completing all the tests.