KATHMANDU, June 14: Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal inaugurated the 400-kV Hetauda Substation amidst a program organized by Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) in Hetauda on Friday. 

The substation is located at Thana Bharyang of Hetauda Sub-Metropolitan City- 11 in Makawanpur district. It is the third largest automatic sub-station in the country based on the Gas Insulated System (GIS). It was brought into operation (charge) last Friday. 

Along with this, two other substations of 220 kV capacity and 132/11 kV capacity have been constructed at Thana Bharyang itself by Nepal-India Electricity Transmission and Trade Project and they have been charged also since last Friday. 

The GIS technology-based automatic Dhalkebar Substation is the largest such substation of the country while the Inaruwa Substation is the second largest and the Hetauda substation the third largest one. These structures have been constructed to make the east-west power supply reliable and of quality within the country and to facilitate power trade with India.

With the construction of the substation in Hetauda, infrastructures capable of transmitting around 4,000 megawatts of electricity have been readied. It is expected that domestic electricity supply will be further strengthened and the electricity trade with India will be expanded, as 4,000 megawatts power can be transmitted east-west from Dhalkebar with the completion of the construction of the Hetauda-Dhalkebar-Inaruwa 400-kV transmission line.

A double-circuit transmission line of 400-kV capacity that will be constructed from Ratmate of Nuwakot through the US assistance Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) will be connected to the Hetauda Substation. The required infrastructures have been built at the Hetauda Substation for this purpose. 

The Hetauda, Dhalkebar and Inaruwa 400-kV substation expansion project had been started through the joint investment of the Government of Nepal and NEA under the National Electricity Development Decade program. All the three substations under the Project have been constructed.

The contract agreement for the construction of the 220/132/11- kV Hetauda Substation was signed in December 2018. It has been constructed by Nepal-India Electricity Transmission and Trade Project with government and NEA investment and a soft loan from the World Bank. The estimated cost of the 400, 200 and 132 kV Hetauda substations is Rs 3 billion.