KATHMANDU, Dec 5: The 456 MW Upper Tamakoshi Hydropower Project (UTHP), which has halted production after facing heavy damages by the September floods and landslides, is all set to start partial production by the last week of December.
The project has prepared a timeline to accomplish necessary repairs to restart electricity production from December 25. A team led by the managing director of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), Kulman Ghising, paid an onsite visit to the project area to expedite the maintenance work aiming to wipe out the acute supply-short problem in the main winter season this year.
“If the maintenance of the project is not done as soon as possible, the NEA will face the challenge of maintaining supply, which, in turn, could lead to serious problems due to the inability to meet the country’s demand,” said Ghising, during his visit to the project site on Wednesday.
All units of Upper Tamakoshi connected to national grid
In its stopgap plan, the project has aimed to operate the powerhouse only in peak-demand time by mid-January. According to the UTHP, it will be collecting water during the off-peak hours to operate the powerhouse for up to four hours daily during the peak hours when demand is high.
The UTHP has remained closed since floods and landslides triggered by heavy rainfall on September 27 and 28 caused damage to the headworks and the powerhouse of the project. In addition, a structure in the dam’s area of the project in Lamabagar-1 of Bigu Municipality, Dolakha was buried in the landslides.
The damage from the natural disasters is estimated to cost Rs 2 billion. According to the project, it has been losing Rs 40 million in revenue daily due to the halt in electricity production.
The UTHP is projected to take around six months to come into full-fledged operation. At a time when India has been reluctant to export electricity to Nepal during the peak winter season, the NEA has hinted at the possibility of power outage in the dry season this year.
Last week, India agreed to increase its electricity supply to Nepal, allowing imports of up to 654 MW to help address power shortages this winter. In a new arrangement, the southern neighbor has permitted Nepal to import power for 20 hours daily, except during peak hours (5-9 PM).
“As India has maintained its reservation on electricity supplied to Nepal until April 2025 and our internal production will also be down by a larger volume, failing to reoperate this project could take us to a serious problem of managing the energy supply,” said Ghising.
