Power cuts 8 hrs a week

Power cuts 8 hrs a week
eKantipur.com, Jan 6
BY BIKASH SANGRAULA

Power cuts are being increased over threefold from Sunday in most parts of the country, with generation from run-of-river projects dropping to less than half their capacity.

From the existing two-and-half-hour per household per week, power cuts are going up to eight hours per week in most parts of the country. In the far-western region the existing power cut duration will remain unchanged, but the region from Hetauda to Birgunj will face the worst power cuts of three hours every day.

Even worse news is that after a month there will be steep and frequent raises in power cut durations, culminating in over 40 hours per week per household, according to a Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) forecast.

Meanwhile, of the 33 MW that PTC India Ltd recently proposed to supply Nepal to ease the power crunch here, it is feasible to take only 23 MW as the rest cannot be synchronized with the country's grid, according to NEA chief Arjun Karki. The 23 MW that can be taken are also under negotiation.

The country's run-of-river projects that can produce 440 MW in total when run at full capacity produced only 230 MW Saturday due to a sharp decline in water level in the rivers. The peak demand these days is 640 MW. The power availability at the moment is owed to 40 MW produced by the country's thermal plants and 85 MW being imported from India.

Production from the country's run-of-river projects is soon expected to dip as low as 185 MW.

Owing to pressure to supplement supply, the two Kulekhani projects, which have a combined capacity of 90 MW and are also the only storage type projects in the country, were losing as much as 23 centimeters of water level per day in their reservoirs during the last few days. The decision to raise power cut durations has been taken to slow the reduction of water level in the reservoirs to 16 centimeters a day as power production from the Kulekhani projects will be essential in February when run-of-river projects will be operating at very low capacity.

Power cut schedule

According to NEA's Load Dispatching Center, households in Kathmandu Valley will face power cuts from 5 am to 8 am once a week, and from 5 pm to 7:30 pm twice a week.

In most places outside Kathmandu Valley, power cuts will occur from 6 am to 9 am once a week and from 6 pm to 8:30 pm twice a week per household. Meanwhile, from Lahan onwards in eastern Nepal, power cuts will occur from 5 am to 8 am once a week and from 5:15 pm to 7:45 pm twice a week. In the west, starting from Kohalpur, the existing power cuts of two-and-half-hours per week will remain constant. From Hetauda to Birgunj, there will be power cuts for three hours every day owing to transmission problems.