Kathmandu, August 3
Nepal Electricity Authority’s Managing Director Kulman Ghising says people’s doubts and suspicions if the regular power outage will recur in the upcoming winter are valid as the Authority could not implement its multiple plans to avoid the crisis.
He says the Authority’s attempts to increase production and decrease demand and consumption failed owing to lack of cooperation from various sectors and stakeholders, therefore the state-owned power monopoly may not be able to meet the demand during the winter completely.
In an interview with Onlinekhabar, Ghising explains the Authority’s bids to generate more power with a new solar plant in Nuwakot, completion of under-construction hydropower projects and increase in power import from India failed due to lack of cooperation from political actors (court, political parties and parliamentary committees) as well as contractors.
The Authority had also planned to reduce demand by importing LED bulbs from India and launching an energy efficiency prorgramme, but they were also halted after a case was filed against the LED import deal at the Supreme Court, the top official says, adding, “[But] the demand will increase this year as people have already forgotten load shedding. On the other hand, there are more industries.”
“It is hence natural to suspect if load shedding would recur in the future as the works could not be moved ahead as planned.”
Ghising blames other actors besides the Authority for the likely crisis and says, “How can avoiding load shedding be possible when you do not let us do anything as we planned?”
After failure in multiple attempts to generate more power in the country and manage the demand side, the only option available to avoid the crisis is increasing the import from India and the Authority is making efforts for that, he says.
“We had thought of decreasing the import also because it is not always reliable. Sometimes, we cannot import power due to voltage problems,” he maintains.
He informs that the Authority will focus on increasing the production to protect people from power outage in the future.
