KATHMANDU, May 9: Nepal's total installed power capacity has reached 4,296 MW, with an additional electricity production of 418 MW in the past nine months.
The record with the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation (MoEWRI) shows that the aforementioned power generation capacity includes both the electricity generated by the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) and individual power producers. This however does not include projects under trial and those generated from alternative energy sources.
The MoEWRI has projected that the country’s total installed capacity will cross 4,500 MW by the end of the current fiscal year.
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Currently, there are projects with a capacity of 3,000 MW under construction, while the pipeline projects looking for construction also have similar capacity.
So far, about 7,360 circuit kilometers of transmission lines above 66 kV have been completed. The ministry has mentioned that the construction of substations with a capacity of 14,323 MVA has been completed, while about 8,225 circuit kilometers of transmission lines with a capacity of 33 kV and substations with a capacity of 3,308 MVA have been constructed.
Similarly, per capita electricity consumption has reached 450 kilowatt hours. So far, the population that has access to electricity from the national electricity system and alternative energy sources has reached 99 percent.
As of now, Nepal exported 2,918 gigawatt hours of electricity; while the import stands at 590 GWh. The solar electricity generation capacity has reached 62.7 MW. A total of 55.3 MW of electricity has been generated from micro and small hydropower projects.
According to the NEA’s report electricity leakage across the country has been limited to 12.5 percent, mainly due to the government's initiative and a special campaign launched by the authority in line.
As per the MoEWRI, the government has aimed to gradually reduce technical leakage. “The authorities will focus on expanding the capacity of substations, upgrading transmission lines, and adopting technical measures to reduce the power leakage,” the MoEWRI said.
