Power outage to go up during winter

Power outage to go up during winter
ekantipur, 12-Nov-08

The coming dry season is going to witness 14-hour load shedding a day, according to a senior official of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA).

The NEA is planning to enforce 10-hour-long load shedding a day during coming December and that would be extended up to 14 hours a day during February 2009, said Sher Singh Bhat, system operations director at the public utility, at an interaction organised here on Wednesday.

He argued that there was no alternative to increasing the load-shedding hours as the demand would rise to its peak in February while the total electricity generation during the same time would be reduced to mere 250 MW in total.

The demand for electricity at the present stands at 700 MW while the generation has decreased to 404 MW from 613 MW till some weeks ago, according to him.

About 350 MW power will be added to the national grid upon the completion of the Upper Tamakoshi and Chameli Power projects. "But that will make no difference in the power-cut schedule as electricity from the projects will be directly supplied to industrial areas," he said.

The government had planned to generate 315 MW of additional electricity during the tenth five-year plan. But, only 35 MW of electricity was added during the period.

He said the faulty government policy on generation and distribution of electricity also further complicated the power deficit scenario.

Finance Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai in this year's budget announced an ambitious target of generating 10,000 MW of hydropower in the next 10 years. "It is not possible without making improvements in the national policy," Bhat said.