NEA gearing up to complete Madhya Bhotekoshi hydel

By A Staff Reporter,Kathmandu, Mar. 17: The Nepal Electricity Authority has taken initiative to complete the construction of the Madhya Bhotekoshi Hydropower Project and Khimti-Bahrabise transmission line being constructed in Sindhupalchowk under the leadership of its subsidiary Chilime Hydropower Limited within a month.

The tunnel leaked when water was supplied during the testing of the structures and equipment to start electricity generation from the completed Madhya Bhotekoshi. Currently, the repair and improvement work of the leaked tunnel is in full swing, according to the NEA.

The Madhya Bhotekoshi, with an installed capacity of 102 MW, generates up to 40 MW of electricity during the winter season. 

As 40 MW is also of great importance for managing electricity supply as per the demand of the winter, the Authority management has taken initiative and requested to bring Madhya Bhotekoshi into operation as soon as possible.

A team comprising Managing Director of NEA Kul Man Ghising and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Chilime Hydropower Company and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Madhya Bhotekoshi Hydropower Company Subhash Kumar Mishra inspected the transmission line and substation on Saturday and took information about the construction progress.

The construction of the 400 kV transmission line from the New Khimti substation in Ramechhap to Bahrabise in Sindhupalchowk under the Tamakoshi-Kathmandu kV transmission line project, which will transmit electricity generated from the Madhya Bhotekoshi Hydropower Project, is in the final stage. 

All the towers in the Khimti-Bahrabise section under the transmission line project have been installed. Only about one kilometer of wire remains to be laid, said the NEA.

The 400 kV new Khimti-Bahrabise transmission line will be brought into operation at 200 kV immediately and the electricity of Madhya Bhotekoshi Hydropower Project will be connected to the national grid. 

According to the NEA, the process of installing the necessary infrastructure at the New Khimti and Bahrabise substations to charge the line at 200 kV has already progressed.

Ghising instructed the project management and construction entrepreneurs to immediately proceed with the remaining work of the project. 

Stating that the construction of both projects is sensitive and essential, Ghising directed them to take the construction seriously and proceed with the remaining work expeditiously by coordinating as required.

A 220 kV transmission line has been constructed for about four kilometers from the switchyard of the power house of the Madhya Bhotekoshi Project in Bahrabise Municipality-5 to the NEA's Bahrabise Substation in the same Municipality-3. 

The Tamakoshi-Kathmandu transmission line has been constructed to supply electricity from the hydroelectric projects built and to be built on the Tamakoshi and Sunkoshi rivers and their tributaries. 

Out of the 122 towers in the Bahrabise-Lapsiphedi line section, only two are left to be constructed. 

The construction of a 220 kV substation in Bahrabise has been completed under the project.