Nepal Electricity Authority’s (NEA) drive to make the Kathmandu Valley a loadshedding-free zone has got a major shot in the arm, as India has agreed to supply an additional 80MW electricity through the Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur cross-border transmission line. 

NEA and India’s NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam (NVVN) on Thursday signed a supplementary power purchase agreement (PPA), under which Nepal will receive an additional 40MW electricity from January and the quantum will be doubled to 80MW after February till May 2017.

NEA Managing Director Kulman Ghising and NVVN CEO Arun Kumar Garg signed the PPA on behalf of their respective organisations in New Delhi.

Nepal currently imports 80MW of electricity through the transmission line. With the additional import, the quantum will reach 160MW from February. Installation of a 100mva transformer in India’s Muzaffarpur made the additional power import possible.

“Our PPA with NVVN was getting expired this December,” said NEA Spokesperson Prabal Adhikari, who accompanied Ghising to New Delhi for the agreement signing. “While we were renewing our PPA with NVVN, the supplementary PPA for additional power import was also signed.”

The price for the new import has been set IRs3.60 per unit, which is equivalent to the existing rate.

Under the existing infrastructure, the imported electricity cannot be transmitted to Kathmandu, but NEA said it is working to upgrade its distribution system in such a way that the imported electricity will cover areas up to Hetauda. “After the upgradation, we don’t have to supply electricity produced along Marshyangdi and Trishuli corridors to Hetauda and surrounding districts. Instead it can be used in Kathmandu.”

Moreover, NEA’s capacity to import energy from India will increase substantially following the completion of the under-construction Dhalkebar substation. The 320MVA substation, which will be completed by February, will be able to handle up to 280MW, enabling NEA to import an additional 120MW power.

The Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur transmission line, which was completed in February, is currently being operated at 132KVA capacity. After the completion of the substation, the power line can be operated at 220KVA.

During a meeting of the Joint Steering Committee in New Delhi in June, India had expressed its readiness to supply additional electricity to Nepal through Dhalkebar, and had stressed the substation be completed at the earliest.

NEA currently imports 345MW from India through four major transmission lines as domestic production falls short of demand.

Of the total imports, 80MW is received through Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur, 120MW through Kataiya-Kushhawa, 30MW through Tanakpur-Mahendranagar and 25MW through Ramnagar-Gandak transmission lines.