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Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) is set to import additional 30-MW of electricity via Ramnagar in Bihar state of India soon, an official said, adding the purchase would help reduce the 16-hour load-shedding to 14 hours a day. Uttar Kumar Shrestha, acting managing director of NEA, said  that the Power Board of Bihar has given a nod to help Nepal by enabling it to import 30-MW power.

"Power import through the 132-KV line at Gandak Power Station in Nawalparasi district is technically viable and we are planning to import the additional power through this line," he said. The current peak demand for power is more than 800-MW while the total power supply is less than 200-MW.

According to Shrestha, Power Trading Corporation (PTC), a government owned company of Bihar state, will make necessary arrangements to export 30-MW power from India to Nepal within the near future. "The PTC will give its final nod to supply power to Nepal by coming Monday," he said. Meanwhile, Shrestha said, the price per unit of imported power from India will be worked out soon after PTC makes a formal decision to provide 30-MW through Gandak Power Station to Nepal.

The per unit rate will be fixed before the Joint Water Resources Committee meeting in New Delhi scheduled for next week takes place, he said, adding that the additional 30-MW from India is most likely to be fed into the national grid within a next couple of days.

"With the power import in place, load shedding hours will be cut down to 12-hrs a day," said Shrestha.

Since last week, Nepal has been importing a total of 50-MW through Duhabi-Kattaiya transmission line which was destroyed during the Koshi flood last August. Prior to the Koshi havoc, Nepal used to import a total of 60-MW through the same transmission line.

Besides the 50-MW from Duhabi-Kattaiya transmission line, some 5-MW is added to the national grid supplied from Koshi Power House at Rajbiraj.

Source - Kantipur Online