What Is the Risk of Load Shedding After Losing 1,400 Megawatts in National Power Transmission?
The flood on September 26 caused damage to projects in the Bhotekoshi-Trishuli corridor, resulting in a loss of 431 megawatts of electricity from the national transmission system. According to the Nepal Electricity Authority, continuous rainfall from Friday to Sunday further prevented around 1,000 megawatts of electricity from entering the national grid. Due to both these flood events, a total of more than 1,400 megawatts of electricity was lost from the central transmission system by Sunday. Damage to two towers of the 220 kV transmission line in the Dana-Kushma section on Sunday caused a disruption of 370 megawatts of power generated from the Kaligandaki corridor from the national grid, said the authority’s spokesperson Rajan Dhakal.
“Transmission lines and towers in the Kaligandaki corridor were damaged, and projects in the Marsyangdi corridor also halted, resulting in approximately 1,000 megawatts of outage currently,” Dhakal explained. According to Mohan Danghee, chairman of the private energy producers’ association IPPAN, damage to the Kaligandaki transmission line forced the shutdown of seven or more projects. “Once the transmission line towers are repaired, most of the projects in that area will be able to reconnect to the national grid,” said Danghee. The authority has stated that projects suspended as a safety precaution will resume operation once floodwaters recede.
The authority estimates that repairs to the towers in the Kaligandaki corridor will take approximately 8 to 10 days. Apart from this transmission line, other projects should be able to resume electricity generation as soon as the floods subside. The spokesperson also noted that the recently commissioned 40-megawatt Rahughat hydropower project suffered flood damage.
Before the large-scale power loss on Sunday, the combined production capacity of the authority and private sector projects could generate about 3,900 megawatts of electricity. Prior to the Bhotekoshi-Trishuli flood, the authority had around 4,300 megawatts of active power capacity. Since Nepal’s daily demand is up to 2,500 megawatts, the authority was exporting the remaining 1,200 megawatts to India and Bangladesh.
However, according to spokesperson Dhakal, despite the floods, electricity export to India continues. Although projects severely damaged in the Trishuli river basin will take time to rebuild, projects temporarily shut down or only facing transmission line damage are expected to resume power generation before Dashain. “Unlike before, electricity demand during Dashain and Tihar festivals is not expected to increase significantly, and may even decrease, so there is no likelihood of load shedding during the festivals,” Dhakal said on Sunday.