Wednesday, June 3, 2020

1.25 MW solar electricity added to national grid

Some 1.25 MW of electricity generated from the biggest solar energy plant – constructed by Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) in Nuwakot – has been connected to the national grid from today.
The project with a total capacity of 25 MW of electricity has added 1.25 MW to the national grid, according to a press note issued by the government power utility. “The electricity generated from the project has been connected to a substation at Devighat and has been evacuated to the national grid.”
Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Barshaman Pun had laid the foundation stone for the project in 2018. Though the project was supposed to be completed within a year, it was delayed due to late in design approval, forest clearance and other necessary procedure.
The World Bank has provided a soft loan of $8 million to construct the project, which has been constructed by a Chinese company Risen Energy. Risen Energy is responsible for design, supply, construction, operation and maintenance of the plant for five years, and hand over the plant to the NEA after five years. The company needs to supply 33 million unit guaranteed energy from the plant, annually, according to the project that is expected to strengthen the supply system of the Kathmandu Valley as its location is near the Kathmandu Load Center.
The electricity generated from solar panels installed on the land owned by Devighat Electricity Center under NEA in the daytime has been directly connected to the national grid. “The electricity generation is possible only when the sun is up as batteries have not been fitted yet.”
According to NEA managing director Kulman Ghising, some 10 MW of electricity will be connected to the national grid within the next one-and-a-half-month. “The construction will take some time as the Initial Environmental Examination (IEE) report is in the process of being approved,” he said, adding that the aim is to connect 15 MW within April last week but the work was affected due to the lockdown. “With connection of solar power to the national grid, the addition of contributing sources other than hydro power has diversified the energy source of Nepal.”

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