With onset of Dry Winter, Nepal starts importing Electricity from India

Chhetu Sherpa / Kathmandu, Dec. 13: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has started to import 650mw of electricity from India as the demand for electricity in the country has surpassed the amount of electricity produced in Nepal.

Suresh Bahadur Bhattarai, NEA spokesperson, informed that electricity generation in the country has dwindled with the decrease in the water level of the river owing to the onset of the dry winter season.

He said the NEA started to import electricity from India this Friday from 9:30 am to 4:30 pm.

Currently, some 900mw of electricity, out of a total installed capacity of 1802mw, is produced in Nepal and there is demand for 1550mw that makes a deficit of 650mw per day to meet the demand, according to Bhattarai.

Reservoir-based Kulekhani hydropower project is also operated to manage the demand during the peak hours of the evening and the morning.

Nepal was facing problems to consume the electricity produced in the country as 456mw electricity of the Upper Tamakoshi Hydropower was added to the national grid during the monsoon period.

However, with the dry winter, the water level in the river has decreasing and consequently, most hydropower projects are producing less than 60 per cent of their installed production capacity, according to the NEA.