Kathmandu, August 18
Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Biraj Bhakta Shrestha has said frequent power outages in Nepal are occurring because the country’s electricity infrastructure is old and unable to handle the increasing load.
Responding to questions raised by lawmakers during Tuesday’s meeting of the House of Representatives, he said the government has now prioritised improving and strengthening the electricity infrastructure.
He said the Nepal Electricity Authority has been working to improve the distribution system on a priority basis in coordination with the government. Accordingly, the authority has been carrying out maintenance work after issuing public notices about planned power disruptions, he said.
Shrestha said Nepal earned Rs 29.32 billion from electricity exports in fiscal year 2082/83. He said most hydropower projects in Nepal are run-of-river projects, and electricity production increases during the monsoon as river flows rise. As a result, only surplus electricity is currently being exported, he said.
According to him, Nepal imported electricity worth Rs 10.55 billion in the last fiscal year. He said electricity generation is no longer a major challenge for Nepal, while transmission and distribution remain the main challenges.
He said a committee had been formed to study voltage fluctuations in various parts of the country and that it had already submitted a report after examining tripping problems in different areas.
The minister said the Nepal Electricity Authority has been instructed to implement the recommendations of the report.
He said domestic electricity consumption is increasing rapidly, but frequent power outages remain a problem because old and low-capacity infrastructure is unable to handle the growing load.
