Rs. 204 billion Required to Ensure Grid Electricity Throughout Nepal

A study has shown that Rs. 204.37 billion i.e. Rs. 148 billion for generation and Rs. 56.37 billion for transmission (i.e. substation), is required to ensure electricity grid connectivity throughout the country within five years.

The Backstory:

• The study was carried out by Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA)’s subsidiary – NEA Engineering Company, with the support of National Planning Commission (NPC) over a period of 17 weeks.
• The apex planning body supported the NEA subsidiary to conduct the study as the government has to allocate the resources to achieve the target of sustainable energy for all by 2030.

Source:

• The study report was unveiled at the validation workshop organized by NEA Engineering Company.

The details of the study:

• The study has the complete assessment of the potential clean sources of electricity generation – hydro, solar or wind – in each province.
• The study has envisioned to execute distributed generation and grid connection in support of the local level.
• By 2017, only 65 percent of the population had access to electricity in Nepal.

What they are saying:

• “Grid electricity provides constant and optimum voltage, which will help tap the potential of industrialization, provide opportunity to set up businesses and ensure quality of life, among others.”, said Swarnim Wagle, vice chairman of National Planning Commission.
• “The distributed generation system will have low transmission loss and the generation system can be developed based on the load demand of each urban and rural municipality.”, says Arvind Kumar Mishra, member of NPC who looks after the energy sector.
• “The cost of distributed generation projects could be minimized during project execution as the cost of solar has dropped considerably in recent years.”, says Hitendra Man Shakya, managing director of NEA Engineering and team leader of the study, adding “NEA Engineering had also incorporated the lowest cost estimation, optimum cost and mean of the lowest and optimum in the report.”