Load shedding hours reduced

The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) said it will reduce the load shedding hours to 12 hours per day, thanks to hot days helping the snow melt and recent brief rains, both adding to water level in rivers.

The load shedding hours, though it has decreased since a week, was formally announced Friday.

The NEA had been enforcing power cut for 96 hours a week since January 23. However, for the last few weeks, load shedding had been less than per the schedule.

Load-shedding schedule for industrial and other areas where the NEA has provided dedicated feeders, beside government’s subsidy in diesel, will remain as it is until another arrangement.

The increasing water level has helped some power plants operate in their full strength. The 70 MW Mid-Marsyangdi has been generating electricity in its full capacity. In all, run-of-river power projects contribute 230 MW of electricity currently while it was 193 MW during the dry season. Kulekhani is producing 46 MW, 95 MW is purchased from India and thermal plants are producing 26 MW. Current demand of the country is around 800 MW.

In the meantime, Nepal has not responded to India’s offer to sell 200 MW of power to cover load shedding hours here. Import from India is likely to face trouble due to absence of cross border transmission lines. nepalnews.com ia Apr 17 09

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