Power outage hits 63 hours a week
POST REPORT
KATHMANDU, Dec 18 - Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) on Thursday announced a 63-hours-week load-shedding schedule. With this announcement, the weekly load-shedding of 45 hours has become history. As the dry season continues, the nation is likely to witness prolonged load-shedding lasting up to 14 hours each day, according to NEA officials. Meteorologists have predicted that there will be no rainfall for the next two months.
According to Sher Singh Bhat, head of NEA's System Operation Department, the duration of load-shedding was increased to 63 hours a week from Thursday due to the increasing disparity between the demand and supply of power. "There was no alternative but to increase load-shedding hours after the water level in Kulekhani Reservoir began decreasing drastically in the past few weeks. The situation arose as excessive water was used to generate power to meet the increasing demand," he said. Now on, an individual will have to live with 10 hours of load-shedding for six days and three-hour power cut a day. The 10-hour-load-shedding will be divided into shifts lasting six and four hours.
Bhat said the water level at Kulekhani was pretty low even when NEA had enforced the 45-hour-week load-shedding regime. According to him, till Wednesday, the water level at Kulekhani had been decreasing by 30 to 35 centimetres each day. Kulekhani is the only storage type hydropower plant in the country and has a capacity of 140 MW. "If water at Kulekhani is used up at the present rate, the reservoir will run out of water by January. The decision to increase load-shedding hours is to maintain the water level at Kulekhani until May," said Bhat. There is need to maintain the water level at the reservoir, which is the only powerhouse with a system restoration facility if there is no power generation at all anywhere in the country.
Bhat said the demand for power is at an all-time high at present and the country faces a deficit of 2.9 million units per day. Currently, the maximum power demand of the country is 770 MW, but NEA has been able to supply only 366 MW.
Source:The Kathmandu Post, 19 December 2008
KATHMANDU, Dec 18 - Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) on Thursday announced a 63-hours-week load-shedding schedule. With this announcement, the weekly load-shedding of 45 hours has become history. As the dry season continues, the nation is likely to witness prolonged load-shedding lasting up to 14 hours each day, according to NEA officials. Meteorologists have predicted that there will be no rainfall for the next two months.
According to Sher Singh Bhat, head of NEA's System Operation Department, the duration of load-shedding was increased to 63 hours a week from Thursday due to the increasing disparity between the demand and supply of power. "There was no alternative but to increase load-shedding hours after the water level in Kulekhani Reservoir began decreasing drastically in the past few weeks. The situation arose as excessive water was used to generate power to meet the increasing demand," he said. Now on, an individual will have to live with 10 hours of load-shedding for six days and three-hour power cut a day. The 10-hour-load-shedding will be divided into shifts lasting six and four hours.
Bhat said the water level at Kulekhani was pretty low even when NEA had enforced the 45-hour-week load-shedding regime. According to him, till Wednesday, the water level at Kulekhani had been decreasing by 30 to 35 centimetres each day. Kulekhani is the only storage type hydropower plant in the country and has a capacity of 140 MW. "If water at Kulekhani is used up at the present rate, the reservoir will run out of water by January. The decision to increase load-shedding hours is to maintain the water level at Kulekhani until May," said Bhat. There is need to maintain the water level at the reservoir, which is the only powerhouse with a system restoration facility if there is no power generation at all anywhere in the country.
Bhat said the demand for power is at an all-time high at present and the country faces a deficit of 2.9 million units per day. Currently, the maximum power demand of the country is 770 MW, but NEA has been able to supply only 366 MW.
Source:The Kathmandu Post, 19 December 2008
