Kaligandaki corridor transmission line comes into operation

By A Staff Reporter,Kathmandu, Oct. 11: The construction of Kaligandaki Corridor 220 kV double-circuit transmission line has been completed.

The construction of 140 km double circuit transmission line started from Dana substation of Annapurna Rural Municipality-3, Myagdi to New Butwal Substation of Sunwal Municipality-13, Nawalparasi (Bardaghat Susta West) via Parbat, Baglung, Syangja and Palpa has been completed.

With the completion of the construction of the transmission line, the infrastructure has been prepared for the supply of up to about 1200 megawatts of electricity, said the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA).

The NEA had constructed the transmission line by dividing it into two sections.

Under the first section, about 40 kilometres of transmission line from Dana to Kushma Municipality-2, Khurkot in Parbat has been completed and brought into operation.

In the first section, 220/132 kV substations in Khurkot and 220/132/33 kV substations in Dana have been completed and are brought into operation. Power transformers of 100 MVA capacity each are placed in both substations.

Under the second section, about 90 kilometres of transmission line from Kushma to New Butwal substation has been completed and put into operation from Monday.

Around 236 towers have been constructed in this section. Towers have been constructed for 220 kV four circuit (multi circuit) line from Sunwal Municipality-13, Badera to New Butwal substation.

A 220 kV substation has been constructed in New Butwal. The construction of the Kaligandaki corridor transmission line has been completed with the second section being brought into operation.

Managing Director of NEA Kul Man Ghising said that after the Kaligandaki corridor transmission line is operational, the reliability of the integrated power system will increase and the voltage of Nawalparasi, Rupandehi and other areas will improve.

"Due to the lack of capacity of the transmission line, electricity could not be sent from the Kushma substation to Modi, so the 40-megawatt Mistri Khola hydropower project in Myagdi was not able to receive the full amount of electricity. There was also a problem in power transmission of the projects built in Lamjung's Dordi Khola corridor. Once the Kaligandaki corridor is operational, electricity generated from projects including Mistri Khola can be fully transmitted," said Ghising.

"The problem of electricity supply in that area has been solved as the electricity produced by the projects will flow completely. It will be easy to export surplus electricity to India."

A total of 74.6 MW, including 42 MW Mistri Khola, 14 MW Ghaar Khola, 13.6 MW Thapa Khola and 5 MW Ghalemdi Khola hydropower project has been connected to Dana substation.

The electricity produced by these projects is consumed locally and the rest is transmitted to the New Butwal substation through the Kaligandaki corridor transmission line.

The electricity of hydropower projects under construction and to be built in Mustang, Myagdi and other districts will also be connected to the same transmission line and linked in the national system.

Project chief Chandan Ghosh said that the construction of the Kaligandaki corridor transmission line has been affected due to the delay in the tree felling permit process, obstruction by the locals, and the COVID-19 pandemic.

After the management of the authority and continuous initiative of the project, the problem was resolved and the transmission line was built finally.

A contract was signed with the Indian company L&T in November 2017 for the construction of the Kushma-New Butwal section. The agreement was implemented from January 2018.

The Kaligandaki Corridor Transmission Line Project has been constructed with the investment of the government and Authority and concessional loans received from the Power System Expansion Project under the South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) of the Asian Development Bank.

The estimated cost of the project is about Rs. 11 billion.

After the construction of the line from New Butwal substation to Bardaghat is completed, the 220 kV transmission line will be ready from Hetauda to New Butwal.

The New Butwal-Bardaghat 21 km transmission line is being forwarded with the goal of completing it by December, this year.

Now the construction of 220 kV transmission line from Hetauda to Bardaghat via Bharatpur has been completed and brought into operation.

New Butwal-Gorakhpur 400 kV second cross-border transmission line is also going to be constructed for electricity trade with India.

The surplus electricity in the country will be exported to India through the same transmission line.

A 400 kV substation will be constructed in New Butwal and the Nepal section under the Butwal-Gorakhpur transmission line will be constructed with the grant received through the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), said the NEA.