 |
| |
VOL. 28, NO. 16, Dec 26, 2008 (Poush 11 2065 B.S.)
|
|
LOAD SHEDDING
Thermal Debate
PM backs thermal plant to tide over grinding load shedding woes but experts disagree
By A CORRESPONDENT
Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has said that the government has backed building diesel-run thermal plants as the short-term option to tide over the woes of load shedding.
 |
| Poudel: Power for whom |
"There could be 18 hours of load shedding in next few months. What will that mean? It will negate all our efforts including the effort to write new constitution. It will invite collapse," he said, adding, "That is why we have decided to go for thermal plants."
Addressing the sixth annual general meeting of Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI), Friday, the PM said that though the thermal plants will be expensive, they can help bring down the level of load shedding to six/seven hours in three months from current ten hours a day.
"The thermal plants will have to be set up in different places like Kathmandu, Biratnagar, Dhangadi and they have to be set up nearby sub-stations," he said. PM Dahal also waxed eloquent about the way the government was functioning amid adverse situation.
However, experts have tended to disagree. Even as the government is looking at the possibility of generating around 200 MW from thermal plants to meet the power demand in the short term and tide over the load shedding woes, experts have said that building such plants are expensive and illogical.
They have said that to run such plants (200 MW) for even ten hours would require 700,000 liters of diesel – which will have to be carried by 70 trucks. Their cost will reach Rs 30 per unit.
"Such expensive power is neither in the interest of Nepal Electricity Authority nor in the interest of the nation," said Jibendra Jha, general manager of production at NEA. According to experts only three units of electricity can be generated from one liter of diesel.
Speaking at an interaction program held at Reporters Club in the capital Friday, NEA managing director Uttar Kumar Shrestha was also of the opinion the government should shelve its plan of producing electricity from thermal plants and find a better alternative.
"Thermal plants are very expensive and complex technology" he said, "as part of immediate and long-term solutions we should instead focus on repairing and then extending the [damaged] transmission line and building big hydro-power stations." The government had on Wednesday (Dec 17) decided to produce 200 MW of electricity from thermal plants.
More Power Cuts Likely
Shrestha said that the consumers already reeling under up to 10 hours of load-shedding everyday may have to face additional power cuts in few months time.
He said that the existing 10 hours of load-shedding a day will reach 16 hours in three months time. He said that to avoid this scenario the government should give top priority to repairing the transmission line that is used for importing electricity from India.
The transmission line was damaged during the recent Koshi floods. Shrestha also informed that NEA is currently focusing its attention to repairing the damaged transmission line and that it will take two and a half years more for it to become fully operational. "Till that time the people may have to face acute load-shedding," he said.
Worse, there are also news reports that due to lack of repair and maintenance, the country's largest hydropower project Kali Gandaki A, too, could face shutdown. The 144 MW strong power project is facing problem in its first and third units. Each of the three units of the project produce 48 MW power each during peak season.
If the Kali Gandaki has to be closed down, then the level of load shedding could surge dramatically, say experts.
