National 5 (Spotlight Weekly)

Two Decades Of History

Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) is successful in supplying energy to the consumers

By A CORRESPONDENT

At a time when the country's annual demand of electricity continues to rise, the challenges before the NEA, the largest public sector enterprise with the monopoly in the power distribution and transmission, is unimaginable.

NEA's Power Plant : Demand outpacing supply

Although the NEA produces peak hour surplus firm energy now, it is not enough to meet the demands after another few years. In case of improvement in the law and order situation, the country will require more electricity as new industries will crop up then.

With the suspension of 402 MW Arun III hydro electricity project, the country's power sector faced major crisis in mid-1990s. With the participation of private sectors, the challenges have been met to a certain extent. If the new projects are not identified in near future and construction works for the same does not begin, the country's electricity supply is sure to suffer.

According to the load forecast by the NEA, the country requires 2595.8 energy (GWH) by 2005 with 569 MW in Peak hour. The requirement of power for 2006 will be 634 MW in peak hour. Based on the present economic activities, the country's annual average growth of electivity is about 7.98. Nepal requires 696 MW electricity in peak hour by 2007 but there is no new project to supply the requirement.

Despite the budgetary constraints, the NEA is trying to construct some storage projects to meet the demands of the peak hours. The NEA is trying to build Chameliya Hydroelectric Project - a medium sized 30 MW capacity, 6 hours daily peaking Run-Off-River project. The detailed design and Tender Documents of the project were completed recently.

After the completion of Kali Gandaki A, 140 MW, project and few other indigenously built projects like Chilime, there has been a gap in hydro power project construction. The ongoing middle Marsyangdi project, too, is suffering from various hitches.

With the intensification of the Maoist insurgency, some private companies have already pulled out from the projects. Recently an investor has pulled out from the Upper Modi project.

The NEA, which has a large pool of technical manpower and expertise, has already
shown that it can construct the middle level projects like 20 MW Chilime hydro electricity project.

Thanks to the insurgency and disturbance, the project is expected to be completed by 2007 - two years behind the initial schedule. The project is being constructed under the financial support from KfW (Germany).

"We have some projects in the pipe-line to fulfill the future needs. At present, we have surplus production of electricity," said Dr. Janak L. Karmacharya, managing director of the NEA.

According to the Nepal Electricity Authority, there are over 1 million customers at present and the number is increasing every year.

From the state monopoly to the competition in generations, the NEA has seen all kinds of changes in the last 18 years. The NEA used to be a single unit of generation, transmission and supply till few year back but it has initiated the unbundling process within the organization.

The challenges before the NEA is not only in generation to meet the demand but also in improving the transmission line and minimizing the system loss.

"The government will support the NEA on its mission to increase the production capability as well as to improve the electricity supply in the country," said Thakur Prasad Sharma, Minister of State for Water Resources. "The technical expertise of NEA needs to be utilized for the benefit of the country."