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KALI GANDAKI A |
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KALI GANDAKI A |
Power Push The
largest hydroelectricity project of Nepal – KGA – is formally inaugurated
pushing the country’s total power generation by 27 percent By A SANJAYA DHAKAL The 144 MW strong
Kali Gandaki A project had been generating power for last more than one year. When King
Gyanendra inaugurated the largest hydel project of Nepal on January 22 in Majuwa of
Syangja district, it marked its formal beginning. The power plant has
the capacity to generate 842 million units annually. The project supplies 27 percent of
the total installed capacity. The King inaugurated the power plant by operating its
computerized system. The project was constructed under the joint investment by the
government and the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) on a loan assistance of the Asian
Development Bank (ADB) and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC). The
project was completed at a cost of US$ 360 million. The project had come
into operation a year and a half ago after one and a half years of delay caused by variety
of reasons. KGA is a run-of-the-river project with daily pondage system (for storage of
water), the KGA is the flagship project undertaken by the Nepal Electricity Authority
(NEA) with cooperation from bilateral and multilateral agencies. The KGA has a daily
peaking capability during adverse hydrological conditions. Because of the provision of
pondage system, its capacity does not fluctuate in the dry and wet season. "Even
during dry or lean season, the project can run with full capacity during peak hours of
power demand," said an NEA official. Another significance
of KGA lies in its financial layout. While the NEA had reached into take-or-pay agreement
with projects like Bhotekosi, and, that, too, in US dollars, KGA has no such problems.
Besides, unlike projects like Bhotekosi (36 MW) and Khimti (60 MW), whose capacity come
down by more than 50 percent during dry/winter/lean season when power demand is
considerably higher, KGA provides power consistently. The KGA project is
located on the Kali Gandaki river in Syangja district in the western development region. A
diversion dam constructed 500 meters down the meeting point of Kali Gandaki river and
Aandhi river makes its water flow through a six-kilometer-long tunnel (with 7.4 m
diameter) to the power house located in Beltari. In Beltari, there
are three turbines, each with the capacity of 48 MW. After generating the electricity, the
water is again flown back to the river. The pond is spread over 65 hectares area. The power from this project is connected to the central grid through 132 KV single circuit transmission lines to sub-stations in Pokhara and Butwal. |
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