Kathmandu, September 28
Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Minister Biraj Bhakta Shrestha has said floods and landslides this year have disrupted around 1,000 MW of electricity generation in Nepal’s national power system.
Speaking to journalists at the Parliament building in Singha Durbar on Monday, Shrestha said floods and landslides had caused significant damage to hydropower infrastructure, affecting generation, transmission and distribution systems.
He said around 1,000 MW of generation capacity has been disrupted due to damage to electricity infrastructure caused by the disasters.
Shrestha also said around 370 MW of electricity generated by 13 hydropower projects has been affected after the Kaligandaki Corridor transmission line was disrupted by the recent rainfall.
According to him, the disruption has highlighted the difficulty of evacuating electricity when transmission infrastructure is not available alongside generation capacity.
Shrestha said charging the Hetauda-Dhalkebar transmission line would make it easier to transmit electricity generated in the east to the west and vice versa, helping address the challenges of connecting the country’s eastern and western power systems.
He said the government is prioritising domestic generation to manage the power system and is importing electricity from India to cover any shortfall.
