ADB giving $180m to tackle power shortage

KATHMANDU, July 7:

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $180 million loan to help Nepal to overcome its crippling power shortages and export surplus power to neighboring India.

Issuing a press release, the Manila-based multilateral donor said the loan will help Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) to finance a substantial upgrade and expansion of transmission and distribution lines and substations, allowing the transfer of up to 2,000 megawatts of power to main load centers in the Kathmandu Valley.

“The network expansion will give the ability to export at least 1,200 MW of electricity to India, once a second 400 kv cross-border transmission line from Bardaghat to Gorakhpur in India is complete,” the statement added.

The transmission line is under study in support of ADB.

With six new hydropower plants due to come on stream over the next three to six years, Nepal expects to have a substantial wet season supply surplus for export by 2018.

“The limited generating capacity and weak power transmission and distribution networks mean two-thirds of the households in Nepal have no electricity,” the press release quoted Lei Zhang, Energy Specialist with ADB´s South Asia Department, in the statement.

The project will also help Alternative Energy Promotion Centre (AEPC) to provide electricity to the hard-to-reach rural communities, with mini-grid renewable energy systems, including mini hydroelectric, solar and wind generation, through provision of an ADB credit line and the ADB-administered Strategic Climate Fund.

“Through an associated capacity development technical assistance, the project will support AEPC to develop a feasibility study for a large-scale wind farm,” the statement added.

Since 2009, ADB has helped Nepal reform and overhaul its power sector and the new assistance will aid the government´s target of providing grid power to 75 percent of the population, with off-grid energy for the remaining 25 percent, by 2027.

Source: Republica