Kathmandu, Mar. 19
Nepal is making
final preparations to export electricity to Bangladesh within the next four
months.
About 200
Megawatt electricity would be transferred physically to Bangladesh by the end
of the current Fiscal Year 2020/21, said Minister for Energy, Water Resources
and Irrigation Top Bahadur Rayamajhi at a programme on stimulation of
electricity demand in Nepal organised by Society of Electrical Engineers Nepal
(SEEN) in the capital on Friday.
Bangladesh needs
more power during wet season when Nepal will have energy surplus, so the
country can trade power when it has surplus production.
"The
government is in talks with India, Bangladesh and China for electricity export.
The dimension of electricity market has changed, we need to give attention to
production and emphasise on consumption and export," said Minister
Rayamajhi.
According to
him, the government had given priority to develop infrastructure needed for the
energy export.
"We are
studying all the transmission line projects and finding their status,
constraints and obstructions. Challenges would be resolved within 3-4
months," he said while stating that the study had commenced as political,
land compensation, social and other personal interest constraints had
obstructed the transmission line construction for the last one-and-a-half
decades.
For instance,
Dhalkebar-Mujaffarpur transmission line project was stopped for about six years
with just two towers remaining to be constructed, and Narayangadh-Bardghat
Transmission line was obstructed in Dumkibas for about five years.
Stating that the
government wanted to move ahead at war footing in developing hydropower and
transmission line projects, the Minister said, "Political stability is
required for development. But we don't have luxury to wait for the comfortable
moment to expedite the projects. We must work during the adversities to lead
the country in the path of development."
Secretary at the
Ministry of Energy, Water Resource and Irrigation, Dinesh Kumar Ghimire said
that the country would soon be in the position of exporting power but priority
would be to meet the domestic need as well as to increase it.
According to
him, about 700 Megawatt additional energy will be consumed and the peak load of
energy will be 2200 MW instead of 1500 MW that is being projected now.
He also said
that all equipment required for the Upper Tamakoshi Hydroelectricity Project has
arrived in Nepal and the project would be completed within this fiscal year.
"Barhabise-Lapsiphedi-Kathmandu
Transmission line is in our priority to consume the energy of Upper Tamakoshi
Hydel Project," said Ghimire.
Space for energy consumption
There is a huge
space to increase energy consumption in Nepal as the industrial consumption is
just 8 per cent against the global standard of 51 per cent.
"We have
opposite scenario of less industrial consumption and high domestic consumption
which is 80 per cent, about four times higher than the industrial
nations," said Shailendra Guragain, Executive Committee Member of the
Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
Industries are
not getting enough electricity in absence of transmission lines, said Guragain,
who is also the past president of Independent Power Producers Associations in
Nepal.
According to
him, the Nepal Electricity Authority has signed Power Purchase Agreement (PPA)
with projects of 6,000 MW capacity while about 22,000 MW projects are ready for
PPA.
"Bangladesh
had said that it could buy about 9000 MW electricity. We have a great
opportunity in the regional power market," he said.
Dr. Biraj Singh
Thapa, Assistant Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Kathmandu University, said that Nepal should gradually move to hydrogen energy.
"This green fuel can provide uninterruptible power supply and can help
flourish mining industry, vegetable ghee production and many other industrial
productions," he said.
Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 20 March 2021.
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