As per the new schedule Hetauda-Birgunj, one of the major industrial areas in the country, will bear the brunt of the 70-hour per week power cut. Other areas extending to Anarmani of Jhapa district in the east, all the way to Lamahi of Dang district in the mid-western development region, will see 63 hours of power cuts a week. Kathmandu and other major towns, such as Nepalgunj, Butwal, Pokhara, and Biratnagar, also fall in this region.
The NEA previously enforced a 45-hour per week load-shedding schedule in these areas. This is the second time within a one month period the schedule has been revised.
Load-shedding hours in the west from Lamahi, where electricity is supplied from Tanakpur transmission, will be set at the local level itself. Power use in the areas is about five percent of the total national consumption.
PM Dahal inaugurated the second largest hydro project in operation in the country on Sunday. But the project has not generated any electricity so far.
In fact, both the units (generating 35 MW each) were not actually ready to generate power at the time of inauguration.
"The inauguration function was organized on Sunday to mark the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between Nepal and Germany," said NEA spokesperson Danda Pani Basyal. German-owned development bank Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) funded the project. Test transmission of the first unit has already faced technical glitches. "It may take a couple more days for the plant to get connected to the national grid," he added.
By the time the next unit comes into operation the river’s water level will be drastically decreased. Therefore, maximum output from the project in this season will be no more than 35 MW, according to NEA officials.
In its notice published on Thursday, the NEA has cited the river’s decreasing water levels as the reason behind the decision to extending the power-cut schedule. All hydro projects in the country, except the Kulekhani hydro project, are run-of-the-river projects.
Delays in restoring the electricity towers in Sunsari district along the cross-border Kataiya-Duhabi transmission line between Nepal and India, has caused an increase in load-shedding. Koshi demolished the towers when its waters breached the embankment at West Kusaha in the district, and diverted eastward on August 18.
The NEA is in the process of finalizing the tender process to select builders to restore the towers. Nepal can import 100 MW of electricity from India once the five demolished towers are back in place.
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